Water Dawnflower - Stylisma aquatica

Unlike other members of this morning glory genus, water dawnflower (Stylisma aquatica) is a wetland species with pink instead of white flowers. It occurs throughout the western Panhandle. It also is vouchered from much of the Southeastern Coastal Plain from eastern Texas to southern North Carolina.  Throughout this range it occurs in open seasonally wet depressions.

Water dawnflower is a perennial that dies back to the ground in winter. When it emerges in spring, it becomes a sprawling vine like other members of this genus.  Its elliptical leaves alternate on the 4-foot long stems and the small pinkish flowers are produced from May through summer in the leaf axils.  I have no experience with this species, but other members are pollinated mostly by bees and I suspect that's true for this one.

Dawnflowers are diminutive morning glories and rarely propagated by commercial nurseries.

These photos were taken by my friend, Floyd Griffith, and used by permission.

Southern Milkweed - Asclepias viridula

Southern milkweed (Asclepias viridula) is native to some scattered north Florida counties and a few sites in neighboring counties in Alabama and Georgia.  It is listed as a state threatened species and is nowhere common.  It occurs in moist to wet open habitats. In Florida, it is most often encountered within wet prairies and bogs within the Apalachicola National Forest.  

Southern (aka green) milkweed is a perennial that dies back to the ground in winter and reemerges in the spring.  Its thin wiry single stem eventually reaches a mature height of about 2 feet.  Its thin leaves are opposite on the stem - which easily differentiates it from whorled milkweed (A. verticillata) as well as the huge difference in habitat preference. The whitish-green flowers occur near the top of the stems within the leaf axils.   Like other milkweeds, it is pollinated mostly by butterflies and small bees.  It also serves as a host for milkweed butterflies.

Very few of our 22 native milkweeds are propagated by commercial nurseries affiliated with FANN - the Florida Association of Native Nurseries.  This one is not a good candidate owing to its specialized habitat requirements, its somewhat unshowy flowers and its general rarity.  If hiking through an open bog or wet prairie in Florida in summer, look for it and just admire it for being what it is.

These photos are used by permission by my friend, Floyd Griffith.

Green Comet Milkweed - Asclepias viridiflora

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Green comet milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora) is one of 22 milkweeds native to Florida. It is unique in appearance and easily recognized from the others.  Found in most counties of north Florida, this species occurs in open well-drained sandy soils. A perennial, it dies back to the ground each winter and reemerges in the spring.  Eventually, it reaches a mature height of about 2 feet by early summer. The stalks are solitary.

The leaves are variable in shape, but mostly lanceolate.  They are opposite on the stems. The flowers are urn shaped and open only at the top.  Up to 5 dozen of these green flowers occur in two-inch clusters in the upper leaf clusters.  Pollinated flowers form long pointed pods about 4 inches long. Like many milkweeds, pollination is mostly accomplished by butterflies.

Like other members of this genus, green comet milkweed is a host to monarch and queen butterflies and like most other upland milkweeds, it is rarely, if ever, offered commercially by any of the native nurseries affiliated with FANN - the Florida Association of Native Nurseries.  I have never attempted the propagation of this species, but I've found most of our native upland milkweeds difficult to maintain in a nursery or landscape.  Although getting seeds to sprout is easy, keeping them in a pot for any length of time or getting seedlings to survive the transplanting to a landscape is difficult.  That seems to be the problem of getting them into the trade despite the great interest in milkweeds. 

The bottom three photos are used with permission by my friend Floyd Griffith. 

Georgia Indian Plantain - Arnoglossum sulcatum

 

Yet another member of the Indian plantain genus (Arnoglossum spp.).  Georgia Indian plantain  (A. sulcatum) occurs in semi-shaded wetland habitats across much of the Florida Panhandle as well as in southern Georgia and Alabama.  It has been vouchered in one Mississippi county as well.

Like other members of this genus, Georgia Indian plantain dies back to the ground in winter and reemerges in spring.  It reaches its mature height of 4-5 feet by early summer.  The basal leaves are ovate, thick and glossy with a distinct petiole.  These often are absent by the summer blooming season.  The leaves alternate up the stem and become much reduced in size and lack a petiole.  The leaf margins are often edged in red  and are noticeably toothed.

Flowering occurs atop the single stalk in summer.  They are typical for the genus - urn shaped and basically white in color although the tips of the buds are red/rose.  Indian plantains generally attract a wide variety of pollinators and I suspect that Georgia Indian plantain is no exception.

Very few of Florida's native Indian plantains have been offered for sale commercially by nurseries affiliated with FANN - the Florida Association of Native Nurseries though such species would seem to have a place in landscapes designed for pollinators.  

The lower 3 photos were taken by my friend, Floyd Griffith, and are used by permission.

Variable-leaf Indian Plantain - Arnoglossum diversifolium

Variable-leaf Indian plantain (Arnoglossum diversifolium) is another one of the six Indian plantains native to Florida and one of the tallest.  Although this perennial dies back to the ground in winter, it quickly reaches its mature height of up to 10 feet by early summer.  Native to six central Panhandle counties and two in north Florida, it also is vouchered from Alabama and Georgia. Throughout this rather limited region is occurs in swamps, wet hardwood hammocks, openings in floodplain forests over limestone with clayey, basic soils and a canopy of hardwood trees and bald cypress.  

As its Latin and common name implies, its leaves are variable.  The lower leaves are heart-shaped with squared off bases and blades up to 4 inches long. The leaves alternate up the stem and become reduced in size and more deeply toothed with very short petioles or none at all.  Flowering occurs atop the single stem in summer.  The urn-shaped white flowers are tinged in pink.  These are attractve to a variety of pollinators - especially bees.

Variable-leaf Indian plantain is listed as threatened in both Florida and Georgia and few populations currently occur on protected lands.  Although an interesting and useful plant ecologically, it is not a good candidate for cultivation for home landscapes and has never been offered commercially by nurseries associated with FANN - the Florida Association of Native Nurseries.  It simply is one of many native plants to be admired if found while walking in a natural wetland.

These photos were taken by my friend, Floyd Griffith and are used with permission.

White Tick-trefoil - Desmodium ochroleucum

Tick-trefoils (Desmodium spp.) are widely regarded as "weeds" due to their aggressive nature and their fruit (loments) that are produced atop their numerous stems which stick to everything that brushes against it.  That said, their flowers are often showy and they serve as host plants for several butterflies.  There are 19 recognized species native to Florida and 3 that are not.  Most have pink to rose-colored flowers, but white tick-trefoil (D. ochroleucum) is unique with its white blooms.  This is a very rare plant in Florida, listed as state-endangered, and known from only two sites in Jackson County.  It also has been vouchered from most states within the Southeastern Coastal Plain from Mississippi north to south Missouri and Tennessee and then northeast to New Jersey. Throughout its range it occurs most commonly in dry woodlands and barrens, especially over calcareous substrates.  Blooming occurs most commonly in summer.

Very little seems to have been written about it and I have no personal experience with it.  These photos were taken by my friend, Floyd Griffith and used by permission.  

White indian Plantain - Arnoglossum album

Indian plantains (Arnoglossum spp.) are members of the Asteraceae and are most common in the Southestern U.S.  Of the 8 species native to North America, 6 occur in Florida and two of these are endemic.  White Indian plantain (A. album) is one of these.  Classified as "rare", it has been vouchered from just a few counties in the northwestern Panhandle.  Here, it is native to wet savannas.

Indian plantains are perennials that die back to the ground each winter and reemerge again in spring as a basal rosette of thick deep-green leaves.  In white Indian plantain, these leaves are elongated with pointed teeth along the margins.  Once established, the plants send up an individual flower stalk that can reach just more than three feet tall.  The leaves along this stalk are alternate, eliptical and sharply toothed along the margins.  Like other members of this genus the flowers are produced in flattened heads atop the stalk.  In white Indian plantain, they are the typical white in color and funnel shaped, but they occur in fewer numbers than its relatives.  They attract the attention of a great diversity of pollinating invertebrates.

As a very rare endemic, restricted to sunny wet habitats, white Indian plantain is not a good candidate for commercial growers and has never been offered for sale by nurseries associated with FANN - the Florida Association of Native Nurseries.  Several upland species are, however,  This is one of the great many species native to Florida that simply should be admired if encountered.

These photos were taken by my friend, Lily Byrd, and used by permission.

Plukenet's False Foxglove - Agalinis plukenetii

There are 17 native species of false foxgloves (Agalinis spp.) in Florida and they are often difficult to identify. Much of it depends on growth habit and on the foliage.  Plukenet's false foxglove (A. plukenetii) is characterized by its mounding habit and its very thin recurving leaves.  This species was not recognized as such in my earlier versions of the Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida (Wunderlin and Hansen), but is included by the 3rd Edition.  Like most false foxgloves, Plukenet's is an annual that appears in spring and grows rapidly to the bush form it exhibits by late summer.  The flowers are typical for the genus - five pink petals with a frill along the outer edge and pink spots in the throat.  This species flowers profusely by late summer and fall and attracts the attention of pollinators - especially bees..

Plukenet's false foxglove occurs throughout much of north and central Florida in dry to xeric, sandy, gravelly or clay roadsides, pine-oak forests, margins of savannas, and disturbed ground.  Like other members of this genus, it serves as a host plant for the common buckeye butterfly but has never been offered commercially by any of the native plant nurseries in Florida associated with FANN - the Florida Association of Native Nurseries.  As a root parasite that needs to attach its root system early to a host plant and because it's also an annual, it is not a good candidate for a typical home landscape.  It is easily germinated, however, from ripe seed collected once the seed capsules mature.

These photos were taken by my friend, Steve Coleman, and used by permission.