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Saccharum giganteum
Specimen plant or background plant in moist informal garden. This is a mid-sized bunching grass until the flower stalk shoots up in the fall. Then it
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray
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Considertions, The flower stalks need to be removed once no longer showy.
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Wildlife, Birds will eat the seeds. Provides cover.
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Habitat, Flatwoods, marshes, coastal swales, cypress ponds, lake shores, cutthroat seep.
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Did You Know?, Showy flowers, Showy fruits
Host plant for the Clouded Skipper butterfly (Lerema accius)
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Did You Know?, Yerba mate, the traditional tea-like beverage from South America, is made with leaves of a close relative to our holly trees, the Ilex Paraguayanis.
Y
- Easily trimmed to maintain desired size
- Christmas tree shape
- Massive, nutrient-dense edible fruit
Staphylea trifolia
This plant is listed as Endangered in Florida where the southern limit of its range barely makes it into the state.
Moist site garden though will tol
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray
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Habitat, Floodplains, moist deep woods, thickets.
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Did You Know?, Showy flowers, Showy fruits
Attracts bees.
- Salt tolerant
- Recently classified invasive
- Relatively uncommon in South Florida
Ulmus americana
This tree is subject to Dutch elm disease. Dutch elm disease has not been detected in Florida (IFAS 2008). In most of eastern North America, this tree
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray
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Considertions, While Dutch elm disease has not been detected in Florida (IFAS, 2018), the planting practices that result in massive losses of street trees north of F
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Wildlife, Seeds used by birds in spring when little else is available.
Used for nesting.
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Habitat, Floodplain forest, wet mesic forests, hardwood swamps.
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Did You Know?, Fall color, Interesting foliage
Larval host for: Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma), Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis), Painted Lady (Vanessa ca
- Beautiful pinwheel flowers, often multicolored
- Very full crown
- Ideal with Mediterranean architecture
Ilex opaca
Both male and female plants required for pollination and seed set.
Specimen tree. Screen.
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray
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Considertions, Sharp spines (teeth) on leaves.
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Wildlife, Fruits are eaten by birds.
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Habitat, Upland woods, second bottom but will not tolerate long flooding. Often an understory plant.
Documented in Lee County in a site likely to be natural.
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Did You Know?, Showy fruits, Interesting foliage, Hurricane wind resistance
Bees pollinate flowers.
- Fruit eaten by birds
- Does best in warmer areas of South Florida
- Moderately slow growth
Ernodea littoralis
Low specimen plant, mass plantings. Can be used as a low hedge, even sheared. Useful for beach dune stabilization.
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Tolerance, Tolerant of occasional/brief inundation such as can occur in storm surges.
Moderate. Tolerant of salty wind and may get some salt spray. Exposure t
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Considertions, Clonal.
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Wildlife, Provides food for birds.
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Habitat, Dunes, coastal areas with rocky soils (sunny, open areas), pine rockland
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Did You Know?, Showy flowers, Showy fruits
Flowers attract butterflies.
- Briefly bare for about a month in the winter
- Beautiful silhouette
- Majestic, sprawling canopy
- Excellent small to medium hedge
- Cornerstone plant in South Florida
Uvularia spp.
All bellworts that occur in Florida are rare. Please do not transplant from the wild unless there is imminent danger of site destruction (permits may
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray
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Habitat, Slope forest, bluffs, river swamps. Rare.
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Did You Know?, Showy flowers
- Showy fall color
- Not a true jasmine
- Handsome
- Unique swollen blue-green to silver trunk
Seymeria spp.
They are included here because they are valuable to insects and because they are lovely and good to have in a native garden if you are lucky enough to
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray
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Considertions, Both species are hemi-parasitic (semi-parasitic) and difficult to grow without appropriate host plants.
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Habitat, Open upland woods and disturbed edges.
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Did You Know?, Showy flowers
Larval host for black buckeye.
Attracts insects.
- Compact size
- Does best in cooler areas of South Florida
- Colorful new leafs
- Tropical silhouette
- Excellent small to medium hedge
Salix nigra
While it naturally occurs in or near wetlands, this tree can also grow in uplands. Stems root readily and most of the stems stuck in a moist substrate
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray
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Considertions, Weak wood--tends to break.
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Habitat, Floodplains.
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Did You Know?, Showy flowers, Interesting foliage
The catkins of small bees and flies who feed on the pollen, wind pollinated.
Caterpillars of Limenitis archippus
- Unique, sweet almond flavor
- Stunning long emerald crownshaft
- Not a true pine
- Forms an open canopy
- Unique, sweet, almond-like flavor
Pteridium aquilinum
This is one of the world's most widespread species. Multiple subspecies exist within Florida with two being widespread.
Because of its tolerance of a
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray
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Considertions, In rich soils, may be overly aggressive.
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Habitat, Dry sites. Oak-pine-hickory woodslands. Tolerant of disturbance.
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Did You Know?, Interesting foliage
- Beautiful, natural globe shape
- Sometime grows horozontially
- Beautiful rounded canopy
Symphyotrichum dumosum
Wildflower garden, meadow.
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray
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Habitat, Sandhills, flatwoods, pine-oak-hickory woods, floodplains, secondary woods, cutthroat seep.
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Did You Know?, Showy flowers
Attracts pollinators, especially native bees.
Larval host plant for pearl crescent (Phyciodes tharos) butterflies.
- Not a true pine
- Will not tolerate frost
- Massive, nutrient-dense edible fruit
Ruellia caroliniensis
Wild petunia's flower only last for a day, but they have a very long flowering period, starting in early spring and going strong through the fall. Ple
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Some tolerance to salty wind but not direct salt spray.
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Habitat, Dry mesic hammocks, flatwoods, sandhill, disturbed areas.
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Did You Know?, Showy flowers
Larval host for Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) and White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae) butterflies.
Attracts many pollinators.
- Ideal with Mediterranean architecture
- Easy/Carefree
- Prominant olive crownshaft
- Relatively uncommon in South Florida
- Pleasant rounded shape
Morinda royoc
Informal landscapes. Its growth form is to be scrambling in a thicket or climbing as a sprawlingg vine. Habitat restoration.
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Tolerance, Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Moderate. Tolerant of salty wind and may get some salt spray. Exposure to salt spray wo
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Did You Know?, Showy fruits
Butterfly nectar source.
- Very full crown
- Majestic, sprawling canopy
- Striking silhouette
- Colorful older leaves
