Weeds of Wednesday: Bees & Butterflies Love Beggarticks

At the entrance to the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, now flourishes a big "bush" of beggarticks (Bidens alba). Yes, this plant is weedy and hitchhikes its way around via its 2-toothed seeds that give rise to its species name, Bidens: …

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.,…

Weeds of Wednesday: Weed or Bird Feed?

The nightshade family, Solanacae, includes many economically important plants, some very invasive exotic pest plants, and some plants that are pretty weedy. American black nightshade (Solanum americanum) is an agricultural weed and likely native to Florida, though there is some…

Partly Parasitic

Piedmont blacksenna (Seymeria pectinata) now grows profusely along the xeric scrub trail at the south Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) near the entrance on Oslo Road just to the east of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory. This trail was bush-hogged…