When we took a walk on the south Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area property after working with the Boy Scouts (see prior post), we were rewarded with this beautiful spring-summer scrub wildflower. Florida scrub roseling is its common name. Its botanical name – Callisia ornata – is quite apt. Kallos in Greek means beauty, and ornata means ornate.
This plant is a member of the spiderwort (and dayflower) family, Commelinaceae. Its structural resemblance to Ohio spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) is striking …
Its 3-petaled flowers are smaller, about dime-sized, than those of Ohio spiderwort. As with spiderwort, an individual flower lasts only for a day, but flowers are produced daily.
The grass-like foliage of this plant is far more slender than the more stout foliage of Ohio spiderwort…
Florida scrub roseling, as its common name suggests, is endemic to (only found in) Florida. The roller-chopping of the south Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area has created new open areas, when this lovely wildflower is flourishing. Take a morning walk there soon to enjoy this ornate, pink beauty!
Enjoy the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area 