Blue Violet - Viola sororia

Blue violet (Viola soraria) may actually be several closely related species.  It has given plant taxonomists fits over the years and some have divided this species into several.  I have chosen to use what seems to be the most widely accepted current thought - that all of our oval-leaved blue-flowered violets are the same species.

Blue violet is found throughout eastern North America, including all of the southern tier of Canada's provences.  In Florida, it is found in nearly every county.

This is a common violet of woodland understories.  Its heart-shaped leaves are deciduous in colder parts of Florida and mostly evergreen in parts that rarely see freezing temperatures.  The basal rosette is about an inch above the leaf litter and nearly 6 inches across.  The deep purple flowers are produced on long stalks and bloom in early spring.  The flowers generally are held several inches above the leaf litter.

Blue violet is often available from Florida commercial nurseries and is easy to grow.  Use it in the understory of forested landscapes.  Though it will survive beneath the shade of evergreen canopy trees, such as live oaks, it will perform better beneath deciduous trees that let more light in from late winter to early spring.  This also is a relatively drought-tolerant violet, but prefers soils that are moist most of the time.

I use this species throughout the shadier parts of my Pinellas County landscape and look forward to letting it signal in spring for me each year.

Early Blue Violet - Viola palmata

Early blue violet (Viola palmata) has undergone a great many taxonomic name changes over the years.  Regardless, it is one of our most unique species and is easily identified by its deeply lobed leaves.  In fact, one of its incorrect Latin names (V. septemloba) calls attention to that. 

Early blue violet is widely distributed throughout Florida, and is found in nearly every county except the extreme south in pine flatwoods, deciduous hammocks, and moist prairies.  As such, it is one of our most drought tolerant and adaptable violets. 

This species is deciduous during the winter.  Its leaves emerge in early spring and soon form a basal rosette of a half dozen or more leaves.  These are several inches long and stand several inches above the ground.  Flowering occurs from early to late spring.  The flowers are a rich purple in color and stand several inches above the rosette of leaves.

I have found that this species does best if given a bit more sun than most other violets.  While it does not thrive under sunny conditions, it also declines in full shade.  Give it a bit of morning sun or good dappled light during the day and it will bloom much better. 

Although this is one of our most attractive violets, it is only rarely offered for sale by commercial nurseries associated with AFNN - the Association of Florida Native Nurseries.  It is easy to grow and will self sow once established in your landscape.  Perhaps a bit of demand from the public will change its relative unavailability in the market in years ahead.

Walter's violet - Viola walteri

Coming from Wisconsin, violets to me are a sure sign of spring.  I love hiking through Florida's deciduous woodlands and finding them here as well.  For this reason, I plant them all over my yard, in the understory and in every corner where they might thrive.

Walter's violet (Viola walteri) is one of our most unique species.  Its diminutive flowers and foliage barely stick up above the leaf litter and it forms sinuous chains of basal leaves which snake their way along the forest floor.  The leaves rarely stand taller than an inch and they are often distinctly mottled - as in the photo above. The basal leaves tend to remain through the winter and new growth commences in the early spring.  Small light lavender flowers appear at this time also.  They stand about 2 inches above the ground.

Walter's violet is found in scattered locations in north and north central Florida.  It is often associated with calcareous soils, but does not seem to require them.  It is a wildflower of the Southeast and occurs throughout the region from east Texas in the western part of its range to Virginia in the north.

I have had very poor success trying to keep this violet alive in my Pinellas County landscape.  Although I have planted it in a deciduous woodland setting - in locations where other species normally associated with it have thrived, I have never been able to keep it for more than 6-7 months.  For this reason, it seems best to attempt it closer to its natural range.  Plant it in a woodland setting in moist soils.  If those soils are alkaline, you may succeed even better.

Eastern False Rue Anemone - Enemion biternatum

Eastern false rue anemone (Enemion biternatum) is another wildflower found in and around Florida Caverns State Park in the central panhandle of Florida.  It is extremely rare in Florida and listed as a state endangered species, but quite common to states and provinces north of us to southern Canada and throughout the eastern half of the U.S.

This is a perennial ephemeral spring wildflower; emerging in late winter in the understory of deciduous hardwood forests, flowering before the canopy closes, and then declining by late summer.  In Florida, it is found in calcareous woodlands, but it is not confined to them throughout its North American range.  The plants stand about 12- 18 inches tall and tend to sprawl a bit instead of being upright.  Many small crystalline white flowers are produced at the tips of the many stems.  As such, individual plants are quite showy for the several week period in March while they are in full bloom.

Eastern false rue anemone has never been offered for sale to home gardeners in Florida by any of the commercial nurseries affiliated with AFNN - the Association of Florida Native Nurseries, and it is not likely to be given its great rarity here and its seemingly narrow growing tolerances.  It is offered by a wide variety of out-of-state nurseries, however, and might make an interesting candidate for a home gardener here looking for a challenge and an experiment. It is a beautiful and dainty wildflower that would make a wonderful addition to the understory of a woodland planting - in the right setting.

Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis

Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) is one of the most beloved of all wildflowers and widely planted throughout much of its natural range in North America - from southern Canada to nearly every state in the eastern half of the U.S. In Florida, however, it is exceedingly rare and occurs only in a few calcareous deciduous woodlands in and around Florida Caverns State Park in the central panhandle.  In areas where it occurs naturally, it can be quite common, but it has a very narrow range of ecological tolerances.  Foremost, it seems to need high pH, sandy woodland soils overlying limerock.  Secondly, it seems to require sun in very early spring, followed by dappled light the rest of the year.  Lastly, it seems to need some protection from the heat of summer.

Despite all of this, columbine can be grown in Florida landscapes quite successfully outside its natural range.  We have grown it in our Pinellas County landscape for a number of years, but we have taken a few precautions to give it conditions as near as possible to those found around Florida Caverns State Park.  We have sited it near the foundation of our house to give it a higher pH than the rest of our yard offers.  We grow it at the edge of our deciduous woodland garden and we make sure it gets a bit of extra moisture during periods of extreme drought. 

Columbine is a very short-lived perennial.  It should not be expected to live much past 2-3 years and will not persist in a landscape if it doesn't reproduce.  Thankfully, well grown individuals produce large numbers of tiny black seeds.  If you trust your site, you may wish to let some of them sow naturally.  I am not that trusting, so I collect the seed to sow in flats.  Seedlings emerge quickly after sowing and are usually easy to grow.

Blooming may not occur until the second year.  Columbine is deciduous and the entire plant disappears from late fall until late winter/early spring.  Growth is rapid and mature specimens reach a height of 2 1/2 to nearly 4 feet tall by blooming time - March through May.  The feathery foliage is one of its best features, looking a bit like a maidenhair fern.  The most attractive feature of this wildflower, however, is its flowers.  Large bright orange to reddish flowers with a contrasting yellow interior are produced singly on arching stalks over a period of many weeks.  They are distinctive in appearance, with 5 modified petals and upright "horns" which hold large quantities of nectar.  Columbines are favorite nectar sources of our ruby-throated humminbird, but also are pollinated by various long-tongued moths and a few bees and butterflies.

If you have a place for this species, you may well wish to give it a try.  It is propagated by a number of commercial sources.  Just realize that you will have to either keep propagating it yourself or purchase it again every 2-3 years to keep it present.

Wood Spurge - Euphorbia commutata

Wood spurge (Euphorbia commutata) is a member of the Euphorbia family and quite rare in Florida.  It is reported from only two counties in the Florida panhandle in rich calcareous woods, and from 2 counties in northern west-central Florida in and around the Brooksville Ridge.  Because of its limited distribution, it is classified as a state endangered species. 

Woodland spurge is a beautiful bright lime green and sprawls in multiple directions from the main stem.  Eventually, individual plants may stand nearly 1 foot tall and more than that across.  Flowering occurs in the early spring.  The individual male and female flowers are surrounded by a round bract.  Eventually, the female flowers produce a three-chambered capsule with tiny seeds.

Wood spurge has never been offered commercially to the home gardener and is not likely to.  It obviously has some ability to thrive across much of the northern third of the state, but also seems to require alkaline soils and rich deciduous woodlands.  Although these conditions could be duplicated in home landscapes - especially near home foundations on the north side, this plant's lack of showy blooms would relegate it to use by the true connoiseurs of the unique. 

This is yet another one of Florida's interesting flora that we should admire in the wild and take pride in its preservation.

Mountain Spurge - Pachysandra procumbens

Mountain spurge (Pachysandra procumbens) is exceedingly rare in Florida, being found only in calcareous woodland habitat in Jackson County; the region in and around Florida Caverns State Park.  It is a state endangered species, but its range extends throughout much of the Southeast Coastal Plain and it is more common in the lower Appalachians. 

Mountain spurge is characterized by its palmate leaves, each leaflet with noticeable teeth along the outer margin. The older leaves are spotted as shown in the second photograph above, though the newer leaves are lighter in color and the spots are barely visible.  These leaves stay close to the ground surface and stand only a few inches above it. 

Flowering occurs in the spring.  The elongated racemes of white flowers appear many inches away from the basal leaves, arising from the ground on a separate spike.  Each flower is composed of spidery petals, tipped in pinkish brown.  They are not especially showy, but quite interesting to observe.

Mountain spurge will never likely be offered in Florida from Florida stock for home gardeners.  It would make a very interesting groundcover wildflower for deciduous woodland gardens with alkaline soils - the same environment that would support trilliums, Walter's violet, fringed campion and the like, but its rarity and lack of showy bloom will likely keep it as one of Florida's many rare and interesting "oddballs" - species left here after the last ice age in small pockets of habitat more in line with the present climate of the Appalachian Mountains.  It is enough that this interesting wildflower maintains its foothold here in Florida Caverns State Park.