Florida Native Plant Society Blog

Figure 1. Aralia spinosa , devil's walking stick; note the compound leaves and terminal flower arrangement. Photo credit: Gil Nelson. By Nnamdi Ofodile This post is one of a series from professor Nisse Goldberg's Botany students at Jacksonville University. Classification Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Apiales Family: Araliaceae Genus: Aralia Specific epithet: spinosa Description Aralia spinosa , Devil’s walking stick, is the only Aralia species in Florida (Figure 1) and is an aromatic spiny shrub/small tree of the Ginseng or Araliaceae family. You can find this plant in the northern and central counties of the state, and in moist soils that are partially shaded by a canopy, where it typically grows between 12 and 15 feet high. Figure 2. A. spinosa with notable prickles. Photo credit: Shirley Denton. Figure 3. Drupes of devil's walking stick. Photo credit: Virginia Ducey. Lean against the thin trunk of Devil...

By Laurie Sheldon Edith Smith In the spirit of Pollinator week, the Ixia chapter invited butterfly breeder Edith Smith to speak at their meeting in Jacksonville last week. Two days later, Edith gave the chapter a tour of Shady Oak Butterfly Farm in Brooker, FL, which she and her husband Stephen own and operate. At the Meeting Because the majority of our chapter members are well versed in the basics of butterfly gardening, Edith's presentation focused on some of the more advanced concepts involved in butterfly and moth rearing, including nutritional requirements, parasitoids, and diseases of viral and fungal origin. She also made sure we knew that, contrary to popular belief, butterflies do not sleep in "butterfly houses" (bird houses with narrow vertical entrances). Butterflies "puddling" on manure. Photo credit: Kris and Kevin Brady Nutrition "Puddling," a phenomenon wherein butterflies gather to sip from wet sand or soil, is an impo...

By Sarah Bailey Figure 1. Solidago canadensis var. scabra . Photo credit: Shirley Denton. This post is one of a series from professor Nisse Goldberg's Plant Taxonomy students at Jacksonville University. Classification Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Asterales Family: Asteraceae Genus: Solidago Specific Epithet: canadensis Variety: scabra Botanical Name: Solidago canadensis var. scabra Common Name: Canada Goldenrod Habitat Although Solidago canadensis var. scabra (Canada goldenrod) is found primarily in the northwestern portions of Florida, it grows in the state's interior as well (Fig. 2). You can find this plant in meadows, waterways, ditches along roads, and large fields that are not tended to or grazed by animals. Its growing season extends from July to October. Figure 2. Distribution in Florida. Characteristics Canada goldenrod belongs to the Asteraceae (sunflower) family and can easily be i...

The US Senate unanimously approved the motion to designate the last week in June as pollinator week. Who says the Senate can't agree on anything? In the past five years the pollinator week celebration has become an international event. This year it's June 18--24. Much of the focus of pollinator week is on our food supply.  Every third bite of food we eat depends upon pollinators . But since 2006, the colony collapse disorder of the European honeybees has alarmed the beekeeping experts. Honeybees have been used as pollinators for hire. Beekeepers move their hives into an area where a large crop (often a monoculture) awaits pollinators in order for fruit to be formed. For example, a female squash flower, needs to be visited eight to ten times by bees or wasps that have also visited the male flowers for a fruit to form. The Pollinator Partnership is the sponsoring agency for the pollinator week. They encourage you to "Invite pollinators to your neighborhood by plantin...

By Laurie Sheldon Sonny Vergara at the 2012 FNPS Conference Sonny Vergara knows what he’s talking about… and he’s not one to mince words. As former Executive Director of both the St. Johns and the Southwest Florida Water Management Districts, and general manager of the Peace River/Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority, he is one of Florida’s most experienced water managers. So when I learned that he was scheduled to give a presentation entitled “Water Management District Issues: What's Going On?” I sat front and center, and was all ears. The Big Question Sonny began his lecture by querying his audience: Can fiscal conservatism and environmental conservatism co-exist in a financially challenged Florida? Prior to the economic collapse, fiscal conservatism meant limited taxes and government size, the promotion of personal wealth, support for sustainable initiatives, and the pursuit of an enhanced quality of life. The importance of our environment to the quality of ou...

The Florida Native Plant Society's new website has been under development for years, but as of last week, it's live. While it's available for us to us now, the website committee is still adding new features. It's more than just a nifty new design; it's a whole new editor and content manager. This offers much more flexibility and many more resources for both the membership and the public. On the home page there is a rotating header with live links to the four areas highlighted: education, research, landscaping, and natural lands. Under the header is a varying list of news, and below that is the most recent post of this blog, with links back to the most recent blog posts. The footer highlights some important sections of the website and offers resources for members and its chapters, including the FNPS handbook, which is now a series of wiki pages. (We'll cover the handbook in the later post.) When you mouse over the top menu items, all but one (Chapt...

By Summer Gagel and Raya Chouk This post is one of a series from professor Nisse Goldberg's Botany students at Jacksonville University. Classification Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta     Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Asterales Family: Asteraceae/Compositae Genus: Echinacea Specific epithet: purpurea Description Echinacea purpurea , or eastern purple coneflower, is the only native Echinacea species in Florida, although it is found elsewhere in the United States and Canada. E. purpurea is endangered in Florida, where the only vouchered specimens exist in the calcareous hammocks of Gadsen County. This perennial plant, which grows in clumps, may have individual stems of up to 3 feet high (Figure 1). Although you could probably guess that the specific epithet, “ purpurea, ” points to the purple tint of its ray flowers (Figure 1), did you know that its genus is attributable to the appearance of its inflorescence as well? Echinacea is Greek for hedgeh...

By Laurie Sheldon Jeff Klinkenberg, delivering the first Keynote Address at the 2012 FNPS Conference in Plant City. Jeff Klinkenberg, The first keynote speaker of the 2012 FNPS Conference in Plant City, delivered without a PowerPoint or as much as a notecard, yet his message was no less vivid than those accompanied by fabulous macro images - a testament to his skill as a storyteller. The following is what I took away from his presentation, entitled “Skeeters, Poison Ivy and Other Things I Love About Real Florida.” Today there are about 19 million Floridians. Perhaps the fact that we have the unique opportunity to die from an alligator attack makes us brethren, in a sense, while it differentiates us from New Yorkers. Beyond our potential-death-by-reptile commonality, however, our own narratives about Florida are as distinct as our fingerprints (some of which, incidentally, may be found in the bellies of alligators). Early influences As Floridians, our sense of place is deri...