Sweetscent or Camphorweed?

Beauty (or aroma) is in the eye (or nose) of the beholder. Sweetscent (Pluchea odorata) also is commonly called saltmarsh fleabane, shrubby camphorweed, stinkweed, and cattle-tongue. This annual or short-lived perennial herbaceous plant grows throughout coastal areas of the U.S.,…

Throwback Thelypteris Thursday: Hottentot or Willdenow’s Fern

Pictured above is hottentot fern (Thelypteris interrupta), a native fern that grows along the mesic (moist) hammock loop trail at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA). Its fronds are usually 3 - 4' long and grow from an underground rhizome…

Wednesday Weeds: Delectable but Dangerous

They are not ripe yet, but they soon will be. Strawberry guava (Psidium cattlelianum) fruits supposedly taste somewhat like strawberries. Another common name, Cattley guava, honors 19th Century English horticulturalist William Cattley, as does the species name, cattleianum. The genus name, Psidium, means…

Throwback Thursday: Ferns of ORCA

Florida has been called the "land of flowers". Even more properly could it be called the "land of ferns". John Kunkel Small, 1931, Ferns of Florida In 2000 not long after the Herb Kale Nature Trail at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation…