The genus Pteroglossaspis is one of several genera of orchids that are primarily African in their distribution and also occur in the southeastern United States, and Central and South America. Paul Martin Brown describes a proposed new species apparently endemic to Citrus County, Florida.
8The Wildflower Garden – Piriqueta
The dazzling spectacle created in the wildflower garden by Piriqueta cistoides subsp. caroliniana is irresistible to gardeners and to the Gulf fritillary butterfly. Discover this easy to grow native in Rufino Osorio’s article, fifth in his series “The Wildflower Garden.”
12Native Gardening For The Birds
Craig Huegel encourages creating a home landscape that provides habitat for birds and relegates bird feeders and bird houses to second-class status. Learn how to transform your yard into a landscape that benefits and attracts wildlife.
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Th e Palm etto (ISSN 0276-4164) Copyright 2008, Florida Native Plant Society, all rights reserved. No part of the contents of this magazine may be reproduced by any means without written consent of the editor. The Palmetto is published four times a year by the Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) as a benefit to members. The observations and opinions expressed in attributed columns and articles are those of the respective authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official views of the Florida Native Plant Society or the editor, except where otherwise stated.
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ON THE COVER: Piriqueta cistoides subsp. caroliniana blooming bright in a native plant garden. Photo by Rufino Osorio.
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Images, top to bottom: Pteroglossaspis pottsii – photo by Paul Martin Brown. Piriqueta cistoides subsp. caroliniana – photo by Rufino Osorio. Florida Scrub-jay – photo by Marjorie Shropshire. Top right: Pteroglossaspis pottsii – drawing by Stan Folsom.
Pteroglossaspis pottsii (Orchidaceae)
A New Orchid Species from Central Florida
Paul Martin Brown and Joel DeAngelis
The genus Pteroglossaspis is one of several genera of orchids that are primarily African in their distribution and also occur in the southeastern United States, and Central and South America (McCartney 2000 a,b,c). Romero (1991, 2002) treated the genus, as occurring in the New World, with two species present in both the Americas and Africa – P. ecristata Rolfe and P. ruwenzoriensis Rolfe. Although several species have been described from South America (Brazil) they have all proven to be synonyms for those species previously described from Africa (Romero, 1991). The proposed new species is the first to be found exclusively in the New World. Although most other species in the genus have relatively large showy flowers, P. ecristata from the southeastern United States has flowers that are usually yellow/green and with blackish lips bordered in yellow and approximately 1.5 cm across. Two distinct color forms, forma purpurea and forma flava occasionally are found, with the former being the predominate color of plants in Louisiana, South Carolina, and North Carolina (Brown, 2000, 2003; Fowler, 2005; Gupton and Swope, 1986; McAdoo, 2006). Both of these color forms retain all of the noncoloration criteria for P. ecristata i.e., size, lip shape, fruit shape, etc. At the Potts Preserve (Southwestern Florida Water Management District) in Citrus County, Florida two large colonies of Pteroglossaspis were found by DeAngelis that have several characters that differ from typical P. ecristata. They are plants of open grasslands (nearly xeric (pseudo) prairies), comparatively shorter in stature with noticeably smaller flowers that are uniformly dusty rose in color; additional differences are noted below.
Pteroglossaspis pottsii P.M. Brown & J. DeAngelis is apparently endemic to Citrus County, Florida and differs from the similar Pteroglossaspis ecristata Rolfe in the smaller, uniformly rose-colored flowers (0.5-.75 cm) with a finely toothed spade-shaped lip, thicker leaves, and obovate fruit.
The inflorescence is terminal on a heavily sheathed, axillary scape 20-60 (80) cm tall; the 6-29 flowers occupying the upper 4-10 cm of the scape, flowers subtended by prominent bracts, the lower with broad bases and greatly exceeding the flowers. The flowers are 5-7 mm in overall natural size; twisted around the upper portion of the scape in such a manner that viewing them is difficult. Petals and sepals convergent over the descending lip; plants with nearly cleistogamous flowers and those with fully ‘open’ flowers have rarely been observed. The sepals are oblong ovate; dusty rose with a paler prominent midrib on the reverse and the petals are oblong-linear with minute falcate tips; similar in coloration to the sepals. The lip is uniformly dark rose colored edged in lighter rose; three-lobed, the central lobe spade-shaped with a minute tip with a finely and irregularly toothed margin; lateral lobes blunt with a few fine teeth, perpendicular to the central lobe or slightly ascending. The leaves are yellow-green; 30-50 cm long x 1-1.5 cm wide; acuminate with sheathing bases; coriaceous, plaited and nearly conduplicate. Plants flower from late July through much of October. Pteroglossaspis pottsii is named for Michael T. Potts and the Potts Preserve where the plants were first seen.
Photos: Pteroglossaspis pottsii – Potts Preserve, Citrus County, Florida, October 2006. Photos by Paul Martin Brown.
A New Orchid Species from Central Florida
The Potts Preserve
Land Use History
The 375-acre pasture in which Pteroglossaspis pottsii was first observed was cleared in the mid-1970’s. The pasture was grazed until the early 1990’s. This period includes a cattle lease administered by the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) after its purchase of the property in the early 1990’s. The pasture has been allowed to undergo natural succession since that time and is included in the District’s prescribed burn program to enhance the recovery of native species.
Soils and Hydrology
The colony is situated on a broad, gently rolling expanse of moderately well-drained soil of the Immokalee complex. At Potts Preserve, Immokalee soils generally supportscrub vegetation. However, owing to somewhat wetter conditions, scrub established on Immokalee soils tend to have higher densities of saw palmetto and a greater diversity of grasses, herbs, and forbs. These areas also generally lack the Florida rosemary and large open sand patches restricted to the truly xeric Orsino and Pomello soil complexes.
Most of the colony of Pteroglossaspis pottsii is located in the dry uplands. However, some plants have established in the upper margin of at least one of the adjacent depression marshes. This tendency appears to differ from the Pteroglossaspis ecristata on the property, which has never been observed growing in these areas. Neither P. ecristata nor P. pottsii have been observed in the most xeric scrubs –those dominated by scrub oaks, Florida rosemary, sand pine, and large sand patches.
The local hydrology was impacted in the past by extensive ditching and draining of wetlands done to increase grazing area in the pasture. Sections of the ditches were backfilled by the SWFWMD using the spoil to block drainage of the wetlands and restore wetland hydroperiods.
During wet periods, transitional soils around the ponds can be moist to wet for long periods. These soils become droughty during dry periods, resulting in soil conditions similar to those found in pine flatwoods. Away from the ponds, the uplands are sufficiently well-drained so that xeric conditions nearly always dominate.
Fire History
Pteroglossaspis pottsii is found in an area that was historically maintained by periodic lightning fires occurring in the spring months – April, May, and June. It is likely that the above-mentioned floristic composition resulted in a more frequent fire-return interval than scrub located on the higher
Above: Pteroglossaspis pottsii – drawing by Stan Folsom.
2007 UPDATE
Pteroglossaspis pottsii had a banner year this year flowering for two+ months and with several hundred plants flowering. The most interesting observation was that no P. ecristata on the preserve flowered at all this year, not unusual in itself, but the P. pottsii behaved in a different manner and flowered better than ever. If this proves to be consistent - poor erratic flowering is typical of P. ecristata – it is yet another aspect in which plants of the two species differ.
ridges. After conversion to pasture, ranchers likely burned it yearly to improve forage. This would have taken place in February and March.
A Note About Pseudoprairies in Florida
Few natural prairies, i.e. expansive grasslands either wet or dry, remain in Florida; of these many have been heavily grazed for cattle farming over the decades. Where these prairies did not originally exist and cattle farming was prominent large areas of long-leaf pine forest were eventually cleared and open grasslands promoted to sustain the cattle. As these lands are acquired for preservation, such as the Potts Preserve in Citrus County, a specialized landform has evolved – that of the pseudoprairie. At first glance the gentle, undulating grasslands appear to be genuine prairie with moister mesic areas in the lowlands and drier uplands. This is all the result of clearing, grazing, and burning programs. The ensuing result is an extensive grassland with a variety of plants usually found in more prairie like habitats. One of the best examples of this landform is the pseudoprairie at Potts. Plant species that may have once occurred in the open long-leaf pine savannas then have the choice, on a very local level, of ‘adaptation or extinction’ due to of loss of suitable habitat or of undergoing an adaptation to the more open, prairie-like condition. This may have been the case with Pteroglossaspis pottsii The obvious differences between P. ecristata and P. pottsii in shorter, denser plants with smaller flowers and thickened coriaceous leaves as well as a large thickened corm all point to adaptation to the open, drier, hotter environment.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Southwest Florida Water Management District, Gustavo Romero (Orchid Herbarium of Oakes Ames, Harvard University Herbaria), Kent Perkins, (University of Florida Herbarium, Florida Museum of Natural History), Wally & Joel Wilder, and David McAdoo.
Literature Cited
Brown, P.M. 2000. New Taxa. North American Native Orchid Journal 6(1): 64. _____. 2003. New Taxa. North American Native Orchid Journal 9: 35.
Fowler, J. 2005. Wild Orchids of South Carolina. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
Gupton, O.W. and F. Swope. 1986. Wild Orchids of the Middle Atlantic States. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.
McAdoo, D. 2004. Orchids of North Carolina. http://www.herbarium.unc.edu/ Orchids/Pteroglossaspis.htm
McCartney, C. 2000a. African Affinities Part I: The Surprising Relationship of Some of Florida’s Wild Orchids. Orchids. 69 (2): 130-139.
_____. 2000b. African Affinities Part II: The Surprising Relationship of Some of Florida’s Wild Orchids. Orchids. 69 (3) 244-250.
_____. 2000c. African Affinities Part III: The Surprising Relationship of Some of Florida’s Wild Orchids. Orchids. 69 (4): 340-343, 354.
Romero, G. A. 1993. Notes on Pteroglossaspis (Orchidaceae), a new generic record for the flora of Colombia. Orquidea (Mex.) 13(1-2): 275-280.
_____. 2002. Pteroglossaspis in Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26. New York: Oxford University Press.
About the Authors
Paul Martin Brown –10896 SW 90th Terrace, Ocala, FL 34481 naorchid@aol.com
Paul is a Research Associate at the University of Florida Herbarium, Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas in Ft. Worth. Paul edits the North American Native Orchid Journal, and is the author of Wild Orchids of Florida and several other books on the native orchids of North America.
Joel DeAngelis –
Southwest Florida Water Management District 2379 Broad Street, Brooksville, FL 34604-6899
Joel.DeAngelis@SWFWMD.STATE.FL.US
Joel is a Senior Land Management Specialist for the SFWMD and received a BS in Environmental Science and Policy from University of South Florida in 2001.
The Wildflower Garden
Number 5 in the Series – by
Rufino Osorio
Piriqueta cistoides subsp. caroliniana
Piriqueta cistoides subsp. caroliniana is a frequently encountered, perennial wildflower that grows in sunny situations in flatwoods, rocky pinelands, sandhills, and scrub. It probably occurs in every county in Florida but so far it has not been recorded, in the form of a vouchered herbarium specimen, from ten counties (Wunderlin & Hansen 2004). Different populations are exceedingly variable and differ with respect to growth habit (prostrate to erect); height (from a few inches to about two feet); vestiture (densely hairy with stellate or simple hairs to completely hairless); leaf shape (long and narrowly linear to short and elliptic-ovate); leaf margin (essentially entire to manifestly toothed); and flower color (pale to deep golden yellow). However, all forms are easily recognized by the following combination of traits: simple, alternate leaves; conspicuous and showy bright yellow flowers with five petals, five stamens, and three stigmas, each of which has a much divided, bushy tip; and seeds borne in capsules that split along three lines, that is, the capsules are three-valved. When first encountered, some forms of this plant might be mistaken for a large-flowered, yellow flax in the genus Linum; however, flax flowers have stigmas that lack bushy tips and the capsules split along more than three lines.
Botanically, the plant was long known as Piriqueta caroliniana (Walter) Urban; however, Arbo (1990; 1995) treated it as a subspecies of P. cistoides (Linnaeus) Grisebach. Arbo’s treatment, while accepted by many botanists, is rejected by others. For example, Weakley (2007:669) maintains P. caroliniana separate from P. cistoides because the two remain morphologically distinct over a wide, overlapping range in the Neotropics. The situation regarding common names is equally unsettled with some favoring “pitted stripeseed,” a recently concocted name, and others preferring to use the genus name as a common name. I favor the latter since “piriqueta” (pronounced PI-RI-KET-A) is more mellifluous than “pitted stripeseed” and there are historical precedents going as far back as the 1930s for using “piriqueta” as a common name (Baker 1938:143).
Questions as to its scientific or common name aside, it is extremely easy to grow in almost any garden situation, in both moist to dry soils, so long as it is provided with plenty of sunshine and kept free from the competition of larger, taller plants whose shade will greatly weaken or even kill it. Although plants will flower throughout an extremely long period from late winter to late autumn, they are never in continuous flower. Rather, the flowers are produced in
flushes lasting about two or three days with a variable, intervening period during which only a few flowers are produced. All plants in a given site will synchronize their flowering cycle so that they produce a flush of flowers simultaneously.When many plants are growing together and there is ample summer rain, there can be numerous cycles of simultaneous flushes of flowers resulting in a dazzling spectacle.
Individual, solitary plants usually fail to produce seeds, indicating that the plants are self-sterile. Therefore, I like to plant them in groups of a minimum of three genetically distinct plants so that seeds will form and the plants can selfsow and multiply – this is definitely a plant that the gardener wants more of! Seeds germinate freely but they are usually extremely difficult to gather since the walls of the ripe capsules fold back with a great and sudden force, ballistically hurling the seeds considerable distances and giving the gardener very little opportunity to harvest the seeds. Luckily, this is among the easiest of plants to grow from cuttings and I have never had a single
cutting fail to root within 10 to 14 days or so.
Regarding wildlife value, at least three different groups of insects use various parts of the plant as food. The seeds are provided with a tiny, nutritive appendage that is known as an “elaiosome” and its presence is an indication that ants, which are attracted to the elaiosome as a food source, may help to further disperse the seeds after they have been ballistically hurled from the capsules. The flowers also provide food to small and mid-sized native bees, which frequently visit the flowers and serve as the principal pollinating agents. Lastly, it is a favored larval food plant for the Gulf fritillary, Agraulis vanillae Linnaeus. Many butterfly gardeners, who are familiar with the use of passion vines (Passiflora species) as caterpillar host plants by Gulf fritillaries, may be surprised to learn that they will readily use this plant as a caterpillar host plant, especially since the two genera seem to be so dissimilar. Appearances, however, are misleading and the two families to which Passiflora and Piriqueta belong, the Passifloraceae and Turneraceae, share many morphological, biochemical, and genetic similarities. Indeed, they are so closely related that the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group regards the merging of the two families as appropriate (2003:407).
Readers may well wonder how Gulf fritillaries can tell that the genera Passiflora and Piriqueta are related and that both are suitable host plants on which to lay eggs. After all, these two genera look completely different to human eyes and it is only by a very careful examination of floral details, fruit morphology, and genetic and
chemical analyses that we can tell that they are allied. The answer to this puzzle is that female Gulf fritillaries do not use their eyes to identify suitable host plants, but use chemical cues, and both genera produce cyclopentenoid cyanogenic glycosides that identify them as suitable caterpillar host plants to female Gulf fritillaries.
References
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. 2003. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG II. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 141:399–436.
Arbo, M.M. 1990. Turneraceae: novedades para la Guayana Venezolana. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 77:340–352.
Baker, M.F. 1938. Florida Wild Flowers: An Introduction to the Florida Flora. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Weakley, A.S. 2007. Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, and Surrounding Areas (Working Draft of 11 January 2007) (http://www.herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm).
Wunderlin, R. P., and B. F. Hansen. 2004. Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu). [S. M. Landry and K. N. Campbell (application development), Florida Center for Community Design and Research.] Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa.
About the Author: Rufino Osorio is the author of A Gardener’s Guide to Florida’s Native Plants (University Press of Florida, 2001). Rufino also created and moderates the online list-serve, Growing Native (www.groups.yahoo.com/group/growingnative)
Left and below, Piriqueta cistoides subsp. caroliniana. Right, caterpillar of the Gulf fritillary butterfly. Photos by Rufino Osorio.
Florida Native Plant Society Annual Report
for the Years Ended December 31, 2005 and December 31, 2006
Statement of Functional Expenses
Independent Accountant’s Report
August 9, 2007
To the Board of Directors of Florida Native Plant Society
I have audited the accompanying statements of financial position of Florida Native Plant Society (a non-profit organization) as of December 31, 2006 and 2005, and the related statements of activities, cash flows, and functional expenses for the years then ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Organization’s management. My responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on my audit.
I conducted my audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Those standards require that I plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatements. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosure in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. I believe that my audit provides a reasonable basis for my opinion.
In my opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Florida Native Plant Society as of December 31, 2006 and 2005, and the results of its activities, cash flows, and functional expenses for the years then ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Ella W. Boll, CPA, P.A. Certified Public Accountant Winter
Florida Statement of Financial Position December 31, 2006 and 2005
Statement of Cash Flows
Statement of Activities
From The President
Dear Members,
I hope you take a moment to review the audited financials for 2006. One of the things that you will see is that 2006 had a negative balance relative to 2005, which was positive. This shift resulted from a combination of factors – the Board decided that it was time to make some important expenditures to increase the effectiveness of FNPS as a science-based organization dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and conservation of Florida’s native plants and native plant communities. This coincided with two unplanned events: the 2006 conference did not bring in money, and there were a number of “fixed” costs (printing, postage, etc.) that increased. The two largest planned expenditures included increased expenditures to support conservation/restoration (in the form of grants and awards) and the hiring of an interim executive director. These expenditures were made knowing that FNPS had a good financial safety net, and also knowing that if they were as effective as hoped, that we’d need to develop the income to support the programs long term.
Really good news is that the planned expenditures are bearing fruit. Our executive director has assisted in the founding of 5 new chapters, all now soundly run by their local members. Several of these chapters now have members actively participating in Society governance. Membership has increased. FNPS has increased in visibility and effectiveness in influencing planning for the future of our natural resources. I’m personally very happy that we are a member of a coalition of conservation organizations that is pushing for the renewal of Florida Forever (the program under which many public land purchases are being made). We are also directly involved in several projects that will bring our model landscape guidelines to communities that need them.
The Board has taken a number of steps to stabilize FNPS finances so that we can consolidate, maintain, and increase our gains in effectiveness. In November 2006, the Board approved a dues increase of $5 for individual memberships. This increase was known to be less than needed after more than 10 years with no increase. In November of this year (2007), the Board approved an additional increase ($5 for individual memberships and $10 for family memberships) and an overhaul of the dues structure as a whole for consistency with current costs. A new dues category was created: lifetime membership, for $1000. A committee has been appointed to look into measures to ease the burden that the increase may place on lower income members. This past year, FNPS (largely through the efforts of our executive director) has brought in several grants that will support specific FNPS programs, especially measures to bring the model landscape guidelines to local governments.
The 2007 conference was highly successful financially. The 2008 conference is on track for financial success.
I’d like to thank our FNPS Board and the many FNPS members who are working to make FNPS ever more successful at protecting our native plant heritage.
Shirley Denton President, Florida
Native Plant Society
Native Gardening For The Birds
By Craig Huegel, Pinellas Chapter
Most new members of FNPS join their local chapter to gain more knowledge about using native plants in their home landscape. They see problems with the traditional approach that relies heavily on turf grasses and non-natives. They want to reduce the amount of water, fertilizer, chemicals and labor necessary to make everything look good. They want to simplify and to get more in touch with nature and natural processes. Eventually, most also want their landscapes to do something besides simply exist as a dressing for their home.
That something often includes providing habitat for wildlife, and for most folks, wildlife means birds. According to data collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Americans spend more than $3.5 billion each year on wild-bird-related items (feed, feeders, etc.) and activities such as bird-watching trips. These direct expenditures lead to additional spending too – meals and lodging, for example, that pumps an estimated $29 billion into the national economy. As a nation, we are fascinated by birds. This does not mean, however, that we are investing our dollars wisely; only that we are willing to do something. That is where FNPS has one of its strongest benefits. We can provide effective leadership by showing our members and the public at large a reason to use native plants with a purpose that many already ascribe to.
by Marjorie Shropshire
Illustration
Creating a landscape for birds relies on the landscape to provide habitat. It relegates the feeders and bird houses to second-class status, to be used within the landscape and to fill small niches that are naturally not present. They are no longer the focus of a homeowner bird-lover’s program, but a small to non-existent afterthought. It is now the landscape itself that will provide the necessary habitat functions required by the birds – no longer a window dressing for the home, but a living system with a directed function.
Creating a landscape for wildlife requires an understanding of habitat and that requires planning and forethought. By itself, habitat is a very simple concept – wildlife require food, water and cover to survive. When an area provides this, it meets the animal’s habitat needs and the animal can survive there. The complex part about habitat is that each species has different habitat needs. Evolution, driven by competition, is constantly at work to refine the mixture of species present in any area. Those that are capable of existing sort themselves out to use the limited resources in different ways. To put it very simply, each finds its own things to eat and places to hide, nest and sleep in. In the natural world, each species has its own niche to exploit. Those that lose their niche become extinct.
Therefore, no single landscape plan can be handed out as a landscape for birds. Different birds have different needs. Blue jays generally love the typical home landscape that depends on a few hardwood shade trees and a relatively open understory. Scrub-jays normally disappear once their native landscape is developed. Both are gregarious species that are tolerant of people. It is simply different habitat requirements that dooms one and favors the other. That landscape is our choice to make.
The plants we use in developed landscapes and the way we put them together are the two greatest factors in determining which bird species will live near us and which will not. We have great power, but we rarely use it effectively. I believe that the real tragedy of modern Florida is not that we have attracted so many residents, but that we have been so ignorant about how to incorporate them.
Gardening for birds requires us first to decide which birds we are gardening for and then to become knowledgeable about what their
habitat needs are. We cannot be truly effective if we simply start planting without a purpose. In the end, we will get birds but they may not be the species we most desired. There is no single landscape design. We can be creative and we have a great many choices. That can be a bit intimidating to some, but it is really liberating once the simplicity of it all is understood.
Food, Water and Cover
FOOD – With the more traditional approach, we expect birds in our landscape to eat bird seed and little else. The problem is that most birds do not eat seeds and the vast majority that do will not touch the stuff that is used in a lot of wild-bird mixes. The truth is, birds eat a wide diversity of things. In nature, the landscape provides these foods. Our home landscape can do the same with some planning. The plants we use will provide the backbone of that food web. Some will provide seeds while others will produce soft fruits or nuts. Flowering plants will attract insects that will, in turn, provide insects for birds that require them. Insects and other invertebrates also will occur in the mulched areas we create. Mulches need to be a decaying organic layer, not a sterile one. Butterfly gardens can provide caterpillars to feed nestlings. Dead branches and scaly bark can provide homes to other insects that will someday be discovered by birds such as woodpeckers and nuthatches. We can even feed raptors by carefully planning features that will attract their prey to areas where they may be more vulnerable. The key is to understand the food needs of the birds we are most interested in.
Different birds have different needs. Blue jays generally love the typical home landscape that depends on a few hardwood shade trees and a relatively open understory. Scrub-jays normally disappear once their native landscape is developed. It is simply different habitat requirements that dooms one and favors the other. That landscape is our choice to make.
For a landscape to provide habitat, it must feed birds year-round or, at least, during the time they are resident. If all of your food is exhausted while the birds are still present, your landscape becomes non-functional. You must have something for them to eat during their entire stay. For fruit-eating birds such as mockingbirds and cardinals, this means planting a diversity of species that have different fruiting times. For insect eaters, it means maintaining conditions that generate insects – and not spraying your yard as the commercials tell you to do.
Native Gardening For The Birds
You also need to know how the diets of your birds may change over the year. Many species have different dietary requirements in different months. For those, most switch from a seed- or fruit-based diet to an insect one. Tree swallows, for example, feed almost completely on small flying insects during the spring, summer, and fall months, but switch to wax myrtle fruit while they are here in the winter. Bluebirds feed extensively on insects during the nesting season and switch to small soft fruits and seeds during the fall and winter.
In evaluating plants for their food value, a number of traits will be important to consider. I will discuss some of the most important ones very briefly here. If nothing else, this discussion will give you some indication of the types of things that should be thought of. For the purposes of this article, I am confining my scope to foods directly produced by plants such as fruits, seeds and nuts, not indirect foods such as insects.
SEASON OF AVAILABILITY – One of the most important considerations in selecting plants for a bird-oriented landscape is the time of year that each species will be producing food. Plants have a well-defined fruiting season. For some, their fruit ripens all at once and are then gone for another year. For others, fruit is produced and ripens over a protracted period. It is important to know what this season is for each of the plants that you are considering for your landscape. If you are feeding fruit or seedeating birds, it does you no good to have all of your fruit ripen at the same time or to have seasons where no food is available. If you are targeting species that are migrants, make sure you have food during the correct seasons. Fall traditionally is a time of plenty. Make sure you have something during other months.
FOOD SIZE – Birds do not have teeth, so much of their food is swallowed whole. Large birds can swallow fairly large fruits, but small birds require much smaller fare. This also is true for hard fruits such as acorns. Different oaks produce differentsized acorns. Hawthorns produce haws of markedly different sizes. Just because a genus is touted for birds on someone’s list, does not mean that each species is equally valuable. Consider the size of your bird and the size of the fruit before committing to using a particular plant in your landscape.
VOLUME PRODUCED – How much food does each individual plant produce? Knowing this can help you decide how many of each you will need to meet your landscape objectives. It does no good to pack your landscape with plants that produce copious amounts of food on each individual because much of that plenty may go to waste. A good example of this is beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). A few beautyberry can go a long way.
SEX – Some plants are dioecious, meaning that each produces flowers that are either male or female. Because of this, you need male plants to pollinate the females and only female plants produce fruit. Hollies, wax myrtle and red cedar are a good examples of this. Other species are monoecious and either produce flowers of both sexes on each individual plant or produce flowers that have both male and female parts. Monoecious plants can pollinate themselves and each plant can produce fruit. It is very important to know this for each of the plants you are considering. If you are planting hollies, you will want mostly female plants. While male plants are important, you will want to minimize their number to maximize the food production in your landscape. If your selection is monoecious, you can have success planting only one individual.
WATER – For the most part, water for birds is best be provided by a birdbath, pond or other artificial means. Though birds will get a portion of their water intake requirement from the foods they eat (just like we do), a free-standing source of water will be required if you wish to include all aspects of habitat into your home landscape. Incorporate water features that are actually designed for birds – not the ones better suited as lawn art.
COVER – Cover is a function of individual plant choices and landscape design. All plants provide some cover value, but they can be markedly different in their ability to create different cover conditions. And since plants work together in a landscape, your landscape design is often more important than your individual plant choices.
Cover also is far more complex than the simple twodimensional concept that it is often considered to be. There are, in fact, many cover requirements to factor in for any given bird species. Nesting cover may be very different from feeding and hiding cover. Carolina wrens, for example, require some sort of cavity or a nest box to successfully reproduce, but need a dense thicket to hide in and plenty of mulched understory for the small invertebrates on which it often feeds. A good landscape for wrens will have all three areas integrated together. In evaluating plants for their cover value, several key traits are important to consider. I will discuss some of them briefly here, but realize that certain short-comings in the cover value of one plant can often be compensated for by incorporating it effectively within the overall landscape plan. Since your plants will be incorporated into a landscape, they simply need to work together. That said, not all plants provide cover equally.
EVERGREEN VS DECIDUOUS – Although Visitor Bureaus around the state try very hard to present an image of Florida
as a tropical destination, the vast majority is actually far more temperate than tropical, and many of our native species are deciduous during the winter months. It is very important to your landscape design to know which plants will lose their leaves during the winter and which will not. Deciduous plants can be very effective at providing cover, but your landscape will need some areas during the winter where birds can hide and this can only be accomplished with evergreens. Use evergreen plants in clusters within deciduous habitat zones or create thickets all by themselves in certain pockets within your yard. Either way, you will want zones of winter hiding cover – not just isolated individual plants.
SIZE AND GROWTH HABIT – There really are two distinct components that I have lumped under this heading. The first relates to the size at maturity. Few of us can afford to plant mature specimens into our landscape, so you will have to consider how your landscape will change over time and how the growth form of each species will change as it matures. An excellent example of this is red cedar (Juniperus silicicola). Red cedar eventually forms a tall tree with a straight open trunk, few to no lower branches and a rounded crown. As a young tree, however (the size most of us will plant), red cedar is a very dense “shrub” with branches nearly to ground level. It is important to consider the amount of cover in your landscape at each level – canopy, mid-canopy and ground – and to understand how all of this will change as the plants you have chosen mature over time.
FOLIAGE DENSITY – Not all plants are created equal in terms of their ability to shield birds from the view of “outsiders.” Foliage density is an important consideration when choosing plants to provide various cover functions. Myrtle oak (Quercus myrtifolia) is much denser than Chapman oak (Q. chapmanii), for example. Although not every plant in your landscape needs to act like a visual screen, it is important that some areas function as thickets of hiding and/or escape cover. Landscape design can often make up for the shortcomings of foliage density, but there is something to be said for using a few of the species that are “thick.”
BRANCH STRUCTURE AND STRENGTH – Most birds build their own nests and they choose the site (when it is not on the ground) to physically hold their nest based on certain characteristics that include the branch structure and limb strength of the host tree or shrub. Small birds evaluate this a bit differently than larger ones, but regardless, some plants are just inferior as nest sites than others. Elms (Ulmus species), for example, are often excellent nest sites as they have numerous branches of different sizes. A sycamore is less valuable in this regard. A myrsine (Rapanea punctata) will never do what a Walter’s viburnum (Viburnum obovatum) does.
THORNINESS – Thorniness can be a huge asset to a landscape designed for birds. Although thorny plants are often avoided by homeowners, their “nastiness” can be reduced significantly if used in corners of the landscape that aren’t going to be actively used by humans or in islands of habitat where they are buffered by non-thorny species. Small birds fleeing a potential predator can find effective escape in the foliage of a thorny plant, while many nesting birds seek the additional protection that such foliage offers. For this reason, consider the judicious use of species with thorns or spines.
In a future issue, I will discuss some of the landscape design considerations that I find important to this topic. Suffice to say, gardening for birds requires some thought in order to be effective, and the time to think is at the beginning of your landscape planning – not well after the framework has been planted and as an afterthought. I hope that this discussion has given you some basics to use as you proceed to refine your landscape and make it all that it is capable of becoming.
About the Author: Dr. Craig Huegel earned a B.A. in Zoology and a M.S. in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in Animal Ecology at Iowa State University. He is a founding member of the Pinellas County chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, and is the author of Florida Plants for Wildlife: A Selection Guide to Native Trees and Shrubs and Butterfly Gardening with Florida's Native Plants
The Florida Scrub-jay – Aphelocoma coerulescens.
Photo by M. Shropshire
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