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.