Wiregrass gentian (Gentiana pennelliana) is a rare and endemic herbaceous perennial wildflower native to ten counties in the central Florida Panhandle.  This state-listed endangered species is found in open moist habitats such as wet pine flatwoods, prairies, pitcher plant bogs, and seepage slopes.  Like most wildflowers restricted to north Florida, it dies back to the ground in very late winter and reemerges shortly after.  Its common name comes from its affinity to wet wiregrass prairies and not from its foliage. Wiregrass gentian eventually reaches a mature height ..read more

Catesby's gentian (Gentiana catesbyi) is a perennial herbaceous wildflower found throughout most of the Florida Panhandle in organic-rich moist to wet soils from moist pine savannas, moist hardwood hammocks and seepage slopes.  In these habitats it prefers partial shade.  It also occurs throughout much of the Southeast Coastal Plain from Mississippi north to the edge of the Piedmont in New Jersey.   Like other members of this genus, Catesby's gentian dies back to the ground in late fall and reemerges again in spring.  By early summer the stems are 6-18 inches tal ..read more

Chapman's sage (Salvia chapmanii) was formerly lumped with S. urticifolia but has since been determined to be separate.  While S. chapmanii flowers in the fall, S. urticifolia blooms in the spring.  It also tends to be noticeably taller. This is a very rare species in Florida and classified as state endangered. It only has been vouchered from Jackson, Gadsden, and Alachua Counties in north Florida though it may have been missed in others. It also has been vouchered in Alabama (in three counties) and occurs in a variety of upland habitats - prairies, cedar glades, open ..read more

Willowleaf aster (Symphyotrichum praelatum) is an herbaceous perennial wildflower native to only five counties in the Florida Panhandle, but common to nearly every state in the eastern two-thirds of the U.S.  Throughout this region, it is most common in open to partly shady savannas in moist soil, though it is adaptable to a variety of sites.  Willowleaf aster dies back to the ground in winter and reemerges again in spring; eventually reaching a mature height of 4-6 feet on stout stems. This species can spread aggressively to form dense colonies over time.  As its common n ..read more

Camphor daisy (Rayjacksonia phyllocephala) occurs in coastal habitats in scattered locations along the west coast of Florida.  There are vouchered specimens from Santa Rosa County in the extreme western Panhandle, a cluster of counties in west-central Florida, and records from the Florida Keys.  In this range, it is most common on beach dunes, salt flats, and disturbed open uplands.  Part of the anomaly in its seemingly disjunct range in Florida might be based on the fact that it shares many similarities to the ubiquitous camphorweed (Heterotheca subaxillaris).  Camphor ..read more

Mosier's false boneset (Brickellia mosieri) is an herbaceous perennial wildflower endemic to a small area of pine rockland habitat in Miami-Dade County. It is listed as a state and federal endangered species.  A relative of the much showier Flyr's nemesis (B. cordifolia), Mosier's false boneset is a thin-stemmed evergreen plant that stands 1-3 feet tall.  The stems are grooved and very finely pubescent.  The thin linear leaves alternate along these stems and are up to 1 inch long.  As the photo above shows, they typically droop downwards and have a distinctive twist ..read more

  Pink bogbutton (Sclerolepis uniflora) is an aquatic plant native to most of the U.S Atlantic Seaboard. In Florida, its recorded distribution is mostly on the west coast south to Pasco County. It is the only member of its genus and can often go unnoticed because of its growth habits.  It is most likely to occur in freshwater ponds and innundated wetlands where it lives underwater, producing long stems and flaccid elongated leaves.  Under these conditions, it does not flower.  The erect stems, needle-like leaves and bright pink blooms only occur in years/times when ..read more

The truly awful common name, scareweed, does no justice to this wonderful endemic member of the wild indigo genus.  Baptisia lanceolata has a very restricted range - vouchered only in a five-county area of the central Panhandle in open upland pinelands.  It is listed as a state-threatened species, but is reported to be relatively common in the right habitats within Apalachicola National Forest and nearby Tate's Hell - two of Florida's true natural treasures. Like other Baptisias, scareweed is a perennial forb that dies back to the ground in winter.  It reemerges much lat ..read more

The genus Clematis has given us a great many beautiful landscape plants from regions around the world.  Many of the species and their cultivars that were used in my gardens of the Upper Midwest have large showy blooms. That's not really the case with Florida's six native species, but they have a charm of their own.  I've written about most of these previously in this blog. Today, I'm writing about one I haven't yet featured - whiteleaf leather-flower - C. glaucophylla.   Whiteleaf leather-flower is yet another vining herbaceous perennial that produces upside-down tulip ..read more

American lotus (Nelumbo lutea) is one of many water lilies native to Florida, but the sole member of this worldwide genus.  It is found throughout much of Florida a bit sporadically from north to south and occurs throughout the eastern half of the U.S. as well as the province of Ontario in Canada.   Nelumbo lutea is a species as magnificent as its Asian relative, N. nucifera, but it is less cultivated for ornament. It was probably originally confined to flood plains of major rivers and their tributaries in the east-central United States and carried northward and ..read more