Gorgeous gumbo limbo

Gumbo limbo (Bursera simarouba) are burly big trees, usually multi-trunked.  Only a few are found at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, youngish trees "seeded" by birds after the Christmas freeze of 1989 that brought bone-chilling temperatures well below freezing and…

Weeds of Wednesday: Perils of Puncturevine

At a glance burrnut or Jamaican feverplant (Tribulus cistoides) sure is pretty, but close encounters -- by barefeet or by bicycle tires -- with the fruits of this plant often do not end well.  Puncturevine, goat's head, caltrop are other…

Great Bay Galls

The red bay psylid (Trioza magnolia) is responsible for galls on the edges of the leaves of red bay (Persea borbonia) and swamp bay (Persea palustris). The galls are so ubiquitous and distinctive that they are sometimes used as a…