Palmetto
Native Container Gardening
Helenium amarum
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Features
4 Notes on the Biology of the Fragrant Prickly Apple Cactus ( Harrisia fragrans)
The fragrant prickly apple cactus was first discovered in a scrub hammock by John Kunkel Small in 1917. Today, its habitat is restricted by coastal development. Jon Moore describes the biology of this endangered night-blooming cactus.
8 Native Container Gardening
If your gardening is limited to a small space or if you’d like to invite more butterflies to your deck or patio, try creating a container garden filled with Florida native plants. Ginny Stibolt provides tips for successfully growing natives in a variety of containers.
12
Spanish Daisy
Spanish daisy (Helenium amarum) is seasonally covered with bright yellow flowers. Despite its beauty, this easy-to-grow native wildflower continues to be overlooked by gardeners. Learn how Rufino Osorio invited this sunny native into his garden.
14 Book Review
Wildflowers of Florida and the Southeast is not a field guide in the usual sense, but there is a lot to love about this new wildflower book by David W. Hall and William J. Weber. Review by Chuck McCartney.
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The Palmetto (ISSN 0276-4164) Copyright 2012, 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.
Palmetto seeks articles on native plant species and related conservation topics, as well as high-quality botanical illustrations and photographs. Contact the editor for guidelines, deadlines and other information at pucpuggy@bellsouth.net, or visit www.fnps.org and follow the links to Publications/Palmetto.
Editorial Content: We have a continuing interest in articles on specific native plant species and related conservation topics, as well as high-quality botanical illustrations and photographs. Contact the editor for submittal guidelines, deadlines and other information. Editor: Marjorie Shropshire, Visual Key Creative, Inc. ● pucpuggy@bellsouth.net ● (772) 285-4286 ● 1876 NW Fork Road, Stuart, FL 34994
ON THE COVER: Spanish daisy (Helenium amarum)
Photo by Rufino Osorio. See story on page 12.
Notes on the Biology of the Fragrant Prickly Apple Cactus Harrisia fragrans
Jon A. Moore
Above: Harrisia fragrans flower, July 2011. The large, nocturnal flowers are approximately 4 to 4.5 inches across. Photo by Jon Moore.
Fragrant prickly apple cactus (Harrisia fragrans, formerly known as Cereus eriophorus var. fragrans) is a native cactus found in scrub habitat, elevated sandy dunes, and on shell mounds along the east coast of Florida between New Smyrna Beach and Jensen Beach (USFWS 2010). It is largely limited to a very few protected sites and adjacent private properties, with the vast majority of individuals found in and around Savannas Preserve State Park (SPSP). At SPSP, the fragrant prickly apple cacti are growing on coarse white quartz sand with a surface layer of fine organic debris and/or leaf litter.
The fragrant prickly apple cactus was first discovered in a scrub hammock about 6 miles south of Fort Pierce by John Kunkel Small in 1917, while he was exploring scrub vegetation (Small 1918). The first specimen was probably collected within the boundaries of the present-day Savannas Preserve State Park. Small later reported specimens from Turtle Mound, about 9 miles south of New Smyrna Beach (Small 1925).
Above left: Harrisia fragrans growing in the Savannas Preserve State Park, 2009. Below left: The fragrant prickly apple cactus gets its name from the fruit, which is globose, about 2 to 3 inches across, and bright red or orangered in color. Photos by Jon Moore.
Notes on the Biology of the Fragrant Prickly Apple Cactus (Harrisia fragrans)
This cactus occurs singly or in small dispersed groups. The stems often form erect, reclining, or recumbent columns up to 15 feet long, however in open sunny spots this species will frequently grow as a shorter, highly branched form. The columns have 10-12 ribs with moderate to deep grooves between. Areolas have a cluster of 9-13 needle-like spines with one spine being particularly prominent and longer (young seedlings under 8 inches in height often lack a distinctively longer spine). New growth is characterized by very golden coloration to the spines at the distal tip of the column or branch. Shaded plants are bright green, while plants in the open sun for most of the day are yellowish green. Very sunburned plants take on a distinctly reddish tone.
Fragrant prickly apple cactus flowers start as small buds densely covered with fine white hairs. The red and brown buds grow to about 6 or 7 inches long prior to blooming and are sparsely covered with small tufts of white hairs just before blooming. The flowers are nocturnal, often opening after 10 P.M. and are about 4-4.5 inches across when fully opened. The corolla is white or faintly pinkish, possessing many white stamen filaments with yellow anthers. There are 9-12 stigmas on elongate styles. Flowering occurs April through October, and the flower smells like a blend of pine forest and freshly cut grass.
The specific pollinators are unknown, although at least two different beetle species have been found in the flowers shortly after opening, including a long-horn beetle (family Cerambycidae). It is likely that Harrisia fragrans is also pollinated by hawk moths, much like many other Harrisia species (Scogin 1985, Rojas-Sandoval & MelendezAckerman 2009).
The cactus gets its name from the fruit, which is globose, about 2-3 inches across, and bright red or orange-red in color. Inside the fruit is a translucent white pulp with an average of about 1,400 small black seeds (Rae 1995).
Propagating seedlings was not particularly difficult. Acid scarification of the seeds, as advocated by some authors (Dehgan & Perez 2005), was unnecessary. A small number of seeds scooped out with some surrounding pulp were placed directly onto a mixture of 70% white quartz sand and 30% unfertilized potting soil. Quartz sand from a scrub ridge was used to provide plants with mycorrhizae they might need for root growth.
Initially a watering regime that mimicked natural rain patterns was applied, however the seedlings were started during Florida’s dry season, and several sprouts were lost to desiccation. Shifting the watering schedule to every 2-3
days, which mimics Southeastern Florida’s wet season rain pattern, resulted in much greater success in both seedling sprouting and survival. The significant increase in sprouting after altering the watering schedule may indicate that the rainy season represents the initiation of recruitment in the wild. Seeds continued to sprout for up to 2 years after the start of the project, which may indicate some limited ability at seed banking.
Young seedlings usually grow in association with a nurse plant, which provides partial shade for some portion of the day. It is very likely that seeds are dropped next to nurse plants by birds that feed on the cacti fruit and then perch in the nurse plant. At Savannas Preserve State Park, the larger cacti (at least 1 foot tall) were most frequently found on the east, west, or north side of the nurse plant. Any seedlings that get started on the south side of a nurse plant are presumably eliminated by intense sunburn and desiccation. At SPSP, nurse plants were most commonly cabbage palms (Sabal palmetto), and less commonly various scrub oak species, including Chapman’s oak (Quercus chapmanii), myrtle oak (Q. myrtifolia), or sand live oak (Q. geminata). Very infrequently, cacti were associated with wild muscadine grape vines (Vitis rotundifolia) or laurel greenbrier (Smilax laurifolia). Rae (1995) lists other nurse plants.
Besides desiccation, other sources of seedling damage and mortality include herbivory. In adult plants, small excavations by caterpillar grazing can be seen on the surface of the column and appear to do little harm, but in small seedlings these excavations can be devastating. Caterpillars responsible for killing seedlings include the larvae of Horace’s Duskywing butterfly (Erynnis horatius), and other caterpillars from a small, unidentified moth were also observed. Younger seedlings are sometimes consumed by gopher tortoises, as evidenced by the results of a recent transplantation experiment at SPSP. Another form of damage was observed when a seedling planted near a dead scrub hickory was attacked by termites that excavated the entire interior of the column base.
Seedlings that attain a size greater than 6 inches tall are in some ways hardy plants. Young prickly apple cacti grow a circle of surface roots, a common feature for plants that gather rainwater in an arid environment with porous soil. They also grow deeper roots that sometimes produce a taproot extending downward from the column. This combined root mass enables prickly apple cacti to survive damage to the column, and the column mass allows for survival from root damage. During the study, a few fragrant prickly apple cacti transplants were vandalized or accidentally damaged.
Above: The red and brown flower buds grow to about 6 or 7 inches long prior to blooming. The left bud has recently bloomed, and the right bud is ready to open in the coming evening. SPSP, 2009. Photo by Jon Moore.
Several were dug up and left on the surface where their roots dried out. When replanted, these plants started growing again in about a month. Another plant was accidentally cut in two at the base. Within a month, the root mass started a new column, and after 3 months the column was 2 inches tall. The damaged base of the column was cut, allowed to dry for a few days, planted into sand, and watered on the 2-3 day schedule. After 2 months, the column rooted from the lower areolas. The ability to root from the column was evident in the wild at SPSP, where several columns had fallen over and rooted in spots that gave rise to a series of new clones of the original plant.
Older fragrant prickly apple cacti are able to grow new columns fairly rapidly. One specimen at SPSP was photographed in 2009 with 4 recumbent columns, each about 4 feet long. Sixteen months later, the same plant had two additional upright columns, one 2 feet and the other 3 feet tall.
The Florida Native Plant Society has funded a project to transplant fragrant prickly apple cactus seedlings into several protected sites in the species former range. An
About the Author
article featuring the transplanting project will be featured in an upcoming issue of Palmetto
REFERENCES CITED
Dehgan, B. and H. E. Perez. 2005. Preliminary study shows germination of Caribbean applecactus (Harrisia fragrans) improved with acid scarification and gibberellic acid. Native Plants (spring 2005), pp. 91-95.
Rae, J. G. 1995. Aspects of the population and reproductive ecology of the endangered fragrant prickly apple cactus [Cereus eriophorus var. fragrans (Small) L. Benson]. Castanea 60(3):255-269.
Rojas-Sandoval, J. and E. Melendez-Ackerman. 2009. Pollination biology of Harrisia portoricensis (Cactaceae), an endangered Caribbean cactus. American Journal of Botany 96(12):2270-2278.
Scogin, R. 1985. Nectar constituents of the Cactaceae. Southwestern Naturalist 30(1):77-82.
Small, J. K. 1918. A winter collecting trip in Florida. Journal of the New York Botanical Garden 19(220):69-77.
Small, J. K. 1925. Gathering cacti in the eastern coastal plain. Journal of the New York Botanical Garden 26(311):241-258.
USFWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). 2010. Fragrant prickly-apple (Cereus eriophorus var. fragrans). 5-year review: summary and evaluation. South Florida Ecological Services Field Office, Vero Beach, FL.
Jon Moore is an associate professor of biology at the Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Yale University. His research interests include conservation of scrub flora and fauna in Florida, the biology of gopher tortoises, and the ecology and systematics of deep-sea fishes.
Coral Honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens
Horsemint Monarda punctata
Blue-eyed grass
Sisyrinchium angustifolium
Native Container Gardens
Ginny Stibolt
Photos by Kari Ruder
If your gardening is limited to a small space or if you’d like to invite more butterflies to your deck or patio, add a few container gardens planted with Florida natives to your landscape. While some natives work well in containers, others do not. Choose tough, drought tolerant plants that can take the strain of container living.
When combining different types of plants in a container, do your homework to make sure they are compatible. Plants that you grow in one container should require the same soil type and irrigation level. If possible, choose plants so that their roots occupy different levels within the pot. For instance you could plant bulbs and a shallow-rooted plant such as blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) along with rain lilies (Zephyranthes species). If a plant is an aggressive spreader, it won’t be easy to include other species in the same pot – they’ll be crowded out in no time. Multiple pots, each with a monoculture, can be arranged in a pleasing manner and might be easier to maintain.
Your pot choices and soil mix will depend upon the plants you’ve chosen and the exposure of the container to sun and wind. Whether it is a long-term container garden or a one-season pot, you need to plan for watering and care. Develop a realistic strategy to fit in with the resources available and proceed accordingly.
Here in Florida, it gets hot, especially on our front door steps where many potted plants live. There’s heat retention in the sidewalk, concrete steps, and even in the pot if you use clay or cement planters. It’s a wonder that any plant, unless it’s a prickly pear cactus or yucca, can
Coral Honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens
Native Container Gardens
survive this environment. To help reduce the heat problem and the resultant need for more water, insulate the plant and its soil by planting it in a liner pot. A liner pot allows a layer of air between the outside and inside pots to separate the soil from the heat – you could even stuff some Spanish moss or packing peanuts in the space between the pots to increase the insulation.
This interior pot doesn’t have to be pretty, but it should be lightweight, so you can remove it with its plants and soil without too much trouble. Fabric pots make the best liners, because plants will be less stressed growing in a confined space if the soil is aerated all around and their roots have the benefit of air-pruning.
If the exterior pot has drainage holes, and if it’s the right height, just set the liner pot on the bottom. If your exterior pot does not have drainage or if you need to raise the height of the liner pot for the best presentation of the plants, then place enough gravel, packing peanuts, a couple of bricks, or other inert material in the bottom to raise the liner pot to the desired level.
Whether you are using a new pot or reusing an old one, it’s a good practice to rinse or scrub out the pot to remove salts, disease-carrying organisms, or chemicals used in manufacturing. When cleaning a porous pot such as clay, cement, or wood, thoroughly wet down the interior of the container. Fabric pots can be soaked in a bucket of water.
No Gravel!
Despite what we’ve been told all these years, covering the bottom of the container with a few inches of gravel (or pot shards) does not enhance drainage. University studies have shown that this layer of gravel or pot shards actually impedes drainage, because water tends to hang together and does not travel well from the fine substrate of the potting mix to the coarse gravel mixture. Plus, plants are under enough stress in containers; so don’t reduce the depth of the soil in the pot with a layer of gravel. Prevent soil from washing out of the drainage holes by placing a piece of screen or non-woven weed barrier cloth, or even a few dried leaves over the holes before adding the soil. Using a large piece of non-woven weed barrier cloth so it extends up the sides of the pot sometimes discourages ants from using outdoor pots as nests.
The soil mix for containers will vary depending upon whether you’re planting a one-season pot or a long-term container garden. The standard advice for container gardens is to use a soil-less potting mix for its lightness and because it contains no weeds or other organisms. This sets up a situation where the plants are totally dependent on you to
provide fertilizer, because this potting medium serves only to hold the plants upright. This light mix also dries out quickly. Some potting mixes that have chemical fertilizers and water retention granules built-in attempt address these shortcomings, but studies have been unable to verify that water retention granules make any difference at all.
A better environment, especially for native plants, is to use your own compost made from many types of plant materials. It’s full of beneficial microbes that promote good root health and complete nutrients. You could mix it with vermiculite and/or coconut coir to add absorbency. Vermiculite lightens the soil. Coconut coir adds more organic material or humus; use it instead of peat moss.
The ratio of these three items will depend upon the container and what you’ll be planting in it. For a permanent container, create a heavier mix with more compost, so plants can thrive for a few years before they need to be repotted. For hanging baskets or temporary containers, keep it light with more vermiculite in the mix.
On planting day, it’s a good idea to pre-water the plants in their nursery pots so they’ll be easier to remove and so more soil will remain clumped around the roots. Water them first and let them drain while you work on the rest of the preparations.
Once it’s planted, water the whole container to rinse the soil from the leaves, to settle the soil in between the plants, and to eliminate any big air spaces. Press down the wet soil gently, add more as needed to smooth out the surface – don’t pack it tightly, because the roots need small spaces in the soil. Depending upon the type of planter or container, you may wish to add a fine-textured mulch, such as coconut coir, or coarser mulch, such as pine needles, on top of the soil.
To create a hanging or mounted pot in a wire basket with a coconut fiber mat or sphagnum moss liner, proceed as above in handling your plants and create a fairly heavy soil mixture – the aeration is so extreme that your plants will appreciate the extra moisture retention. You can plant several plants on top in the soil and wait for them to grow into a graceful, trailing arrangement, but for quicker results, you could add plants to the sides as well. Place just a little soil in the bottom of the pot, split the coconut mat or sphagnum liner in three or five places. Slip the plants, roots-first, into those side-splits. Fill in the rest of the soil up to the bottom of your top plants’ root balls and proceed as described above. This will not be a long-term planter, but will provide quite a show for a season.
No matter what type of container you’ve planted, you may wish to set it in an out-of-the-way spot for a day or two while the plants adjust to their new orientation, and where you can keep an eye on it. Some of the stems or branches may have been broken during planting and will need to be
trimmed. If one of the plants wilts while the others remain perky, it needs to be replaced. Plants will arrange themselves so that as many leaves as possible can absorb light for photosynthesis – when they do this, your planter is ready to set or hang in its permanent position.
Container Garden Care
Coming up with a watering routine is the largest challenge in container care, even for native plants. Watch for wilting and check the soil before and after you water to make sure that the water is soaking into the soil and not running straight through a gap somewhere – this may happen if the soil dries out and it requires a deep soaking to fix it. The faster a plant grows, the more water it needs. You may need to water most plants daily on hot or windy days, but during the cooler months or rainy season, the need will be much less. Hand watering is the most frequently used method, but it can become a chore if you have a lot of pots. An automatic drip system will remove some of the time required for maintenance, but you’ll still need to keep an eye on how your container plants are doing.
While the soil mix includes compost with its microbes and nutrients, your plants will deplete the soil in this enclosed environment, so add some compost to the soil’s surface, or if you think it’s needed, fertilize occasionally with organic fertilizer such as a fish emulsion or compost extract. Don’t stimulate new growth with fertilizer if the plants are entering a dormant period or a period with limited watering.
Trimming and pruning plants can increase the blooming, keep the arrangement well balanced, and reduce the amount of water and nutrient uptake. For a one-season pot, the trimming will mostly be deadheading and trimming back stragglers –this will cause new growth and will lengthen its season. For a permanent container, prune woody plants, being careful of the overall shape, because these plants are prominently displayed. Herbaceous plants such as spotted horsemint may need to be trimmed back the same as a one-season pot to stimulate new growth and to keep them from getting too leggy.
During the dry season flush your permanent pots with an extra deep watering every six weeks or so. This rinses out the salts that build up from fertilizers (organic or not), soil residue, and maybe salt spray. It’s good if you can coordinate this with Mother Nature; so do it just before or just after a hard rain. Set up your plants without their saucers, water them thoroughly with rain barrel water, and then check the soil for depth of moisture. Sometimes even what seems to be a thorough watering doesn’t wet all the soil. Water again after a few minutes and then let the rain soak the soil again.
After two or three years growing in a container, most plants will appreciate new soil, and maybe a larger pot. The day before repotting, water deeply. If you used a cloth liner pot, the plants won’t be root bound, but they’re likely to fill the whole space, so it might be easiest to cut the pot away. If you used a hard pot, the roots will probably being growing against the inner wall of the container. Carefully knock the plants from the pot. Don’t manhandle the plants by the stems or trunks; support them by their root balls.
Judge your container’s ecosystem as if you were purchasing new plants. If the roots are white and turgid, your plants are still in good health. If your container soil is healthy, it should smell sweet or earthy, not sour. If the soil is sour, you’ve probably been over watering which creates an anaerobic condition. If the roots are circling in the pot or if they are tan or mushy, then you’ve waited too long to repot or maybe there is a soil-borne disease in your container. It’s not a good idea to repot mushy-rooted plants; they are not likely to survive. To attempt to save the plant, cut away all the mushy roots, rinse the remaining healthy roots, and use all new soil in the new or well-scrubbed pot.
Before you replant, knock away some of the loose soil, and spread out the roots. If you plan to reuse the same pot, scrub it inside and out. Also because you are not going to a larger pot, take a clue from the bonsai gardeners and trim back the roots (maybe one fifth of the volume) before replanting. If you trim the roots, don’t prune the top for two or three months – the plant will need all the leaves it has to recover from the shock of transplant. Record the dates of planting and repotting in your garden log, so the next time you’ll have a better idea of when to repot.
Container Gardens Add Flexibility to Native Landscapes
Container gardens can set the tone for your landscape – they can be formal or informal. Container gardens can define outdoor areas, absorb rainfall on otherwise impervious surfaces, allow gardening in small areas, and provide changeable accents each season. Use your imagination and you may find that containers can solve some of your biggest gardening challenges. You may never go back to 100 percent in-the-ground gardens again.
About the Author:
Ginny Stibolt is a lifelong gardener and has an MS degree in Botany from the University of Maryland. She is the author of numerous books, including Sustainable Gardening for Florida, published in 2009 by the University Press of Florida. www.sky-bolt.com/ginnystibolt.htm
Kari Ruder is the owner of Naturewise. www.naturewiseplants.com
SHelenium amarum
panish Daisy S
by Rufino Osorio
Long gone are the days when a Florida native garden was an arboretum of trees and shrubs with an occasional vine or two. The native garden palette has expanded considerably in the last twenty years and wildflowers and grasses are now commonplace. However, there are still colorful, floriferous, common, and easy-to-grow native wildflowers that continue to be overlooked by gardeners, such as the Spanish daisy, Helenium amarum
Spanish daisy is an annual that has been recorded from every county in Florida except Glades, Hardee, Hendry, La Fayette, Monroe, Orange, St. Lucie, and Sumter counties (Wunderlin & Hansen (2008). It is described as common in disturbed sites (Wunderlin & Hansen 2003: 318) but I have observed it as a wild plant only once and that was long ago in 1983 along a roadside in Ruskin, Florida.
My next encounter was 27 years later in the garden center of a home improvement store, where it was being sold as a bedding annual. It was an uncommonly attractive
Above: Large plant in late spring.
Right: Depauperate plant growing in very dry, sandy soil.
Photos by Rufino Osorio.
plant with conspicuous pure yellow daisies. Once I got over the surprise of seeing a fairly obscure native Florida wildflower for sale in a big box store, I scooped up three pots and went home as pleased as any pirate with a treasure chest full of gold.
Spanish daisy grows from 2–30 inches tall depending on soil fertility, soil moisture, and genetic background, but plants are typically 8–18 inches tall. Although it is a weedy plant as is evidenced by its proclivity to colonize disturbed ground along roadsides and overgrazed pastures, it is not at all coarse or rank, and it has a tidy and refined appearance. Plants branch repeatedly and naturally tend to form rounded masses of foliage. The leaves are narrowly linear, almost threadlike, and they at once serve to distinguish Spanish daisy from the other six species of Helenium occurring in Florida. The tip of every stem ends in a bright yellow daisy with about 8 ray florets (the so-called “petals” of a daisy) and the center of the daisy is composed of numerous tiny disk florets of the same yellow color. In Texas and Oklahoma, there is a variety whose disk florets are a deep maroon-brown color, H. amarum var. badium
Spanish daisy is extremely showy from late winter and onwards into early summer when well-grown plants will be covered with innumerable daisies. In late summer or autumn, the plants will decline, having flowered and seeded themselves to exhaustion.
As is usually the case with taprooted annuals, seeds are the only practical means of propagation. Fortunately, the tiny seeds germinate readily without any special treatments under a wide range of temperatures. As long as there is ample moisture and cool weather, the seedlings will focus on vegetative growth but, if stressed by a lack of water or if there is even a hint of warm weather, they will quickly switch to the production of as many flowers as possible. Under very
stressful conditions, plants can flower and set seeds in as little as 8 weeks (Csurhes & Zhou 2008).
As is also common with taprooted annuals, Spanish daisies resent transplanting or root disturbance. To overcome this problem, I used the following technique to introduce it into my garden: I took the three small potted plants that I purchased, and, without disturbing their roots, transplanted them into one large pot. Then I regularly watered them so that they would flower freely and set abundant seeds in the hope that the seeds would scatter and establish the
plant in suitable sites in the garden. This is in fact what happened and, in late winter and early spring, about four dozen plants came up in the yard within a few inches to several yards from the mother plants. All of the sites in which seedlings arose had sandy soil and were in full sun. Soil moisture varied from extremely dry to very wet but all had excellent drainage without standing water. Since the plants are annuals that die at the end of summer, it is important to let them go to seed and to maintain a few areas of bare soil since I saw no seedlings in areas covered by mulch or densely covered by other plants. Spanish daisy has both positive and negative interactions with animals. On the negative side, it contains sesquiterpene lactones that are toxic to grazing animals and result in
unpalatable, bitter milk when ingested by cows (Fuller & McClintock 1986: 88), accounting for another of the plant’s common names, bitterweed. Since animals tend to avoid its distasteful foliage they generally do not eat sufficient quantities to cause poisioning. However, poisoning can result from herding animals into confined areas where bitterweed is abundant.
The plant has a much more positive association with insect pollinators. Its flowers are extremely attractive to native bees, but are not particularly attractive to honeybees. This allows native bees to gather pollen and nectar without intense competition from non-native honeybees. Spanish daisy is also visited by nectarseeking wasps, flies, butterflies, and the occasional flower beetle. So far, there have been no signs of pests in plants growing in my yard but, in parts of its range, it is used as food by the stem-boring caterpillars of two moths, as well as a weevil that feeds on developing seeds (Hilty n.d.).
REFERENCES CITED
Csurhes, S. and Y. Zhou. 2008. Pest Plant Risk Assessment: Bitter Weed. Brisbane: The State of Queensland, Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.
Fuller, T.C. and E.M. McClintock. 1986. Poisonous Plants of California. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hilty, J. Undated. Bitterweed. Internet: http://www. illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/bitterweed.html.
Wunderlin, R.P. and B.F. Hansen. 2003. Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Wunderlin, R. P. and B. F. Hansen. 2008. 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, published by the University Press of Florida: Gainesville. He blogs about Florida native plants at http://rufino-osorio.blogspot.com/
Wildflowers of Florida and the Southeast
By David W. Hall and William J. Weber Hardbound, 819 pages
Publisher: DW Hall Consulting (2011)
$40
ISBN: 0615395023
Review by Chuck McCartney
When it comes to photographic guides for identifying wildflowers, I say the more the merrier. For us amateur field botanists and wildflower enthusiasts, more books mean more photographs and descriptions to help us identify the species we see during our forays into nature. And although these books tend to cover many of the same species, each usually includes some wildflowers not illustrated in other such publications.
There are certainly good field guides that cover specific regions of Florida (such as Roger Hammer’s excellent pair on the wildflowers of the Everglades and the Florida Keys) and others extending to the whole state (such as the two volumes by Walter Kingsley Taylor). Some excellent ones also cover specific plant types (such as Gil Nelson’s book on Florida trees or Walter Taylor’s one on grasses). Now comes a weighty volume by botanist David Hall and photographer William Weber that aims to be as comprehensive as possible regarding the wildflowers of Florida and, by extension, the Southeastern Coastal Plain of the United States. The book describes and illustrates 768 plants, mostly natives, with a few common naturalized exotics thrown in. It is an ambitious undertaking that mostly succeeds.
But be forewarned: Wildflowers of Florida and the Southeast is not a field guide in the usual sense. For one thing, it weighs in at a hefty 4.65 pounds, not exactly something most people would relish lugging around in their backpack all day with their other gear. Also, the binding doesn’t seem as though it would be very durable. It is of a rather delicate cloth over thick cardboard and probably would not hold up after many uses in the field, especially under adverse weather conditions. Instead, this is a volume for the library shelf, perhaps best consulted at home after a rigorous day of observing plants outdoors.
“Wildflowers of Florida and the Southeast would be a good addition to the library of any wildflower lover, most especially for the vast number of species it includes.”
The success of books such as this rises and falls on the quality of its illustrations. In this new volume, some of the photos are good, some adequate, and some less so (the latter being not very useful for identification purposes). A few photos are misidentified. For example, the one included with the description of Tillandsia setacea is the very different Tillandsia fasciculata; a yellow Pentalinon-like flower is included with the description of Echites umbellata at one point (there is a second, correctly identified, shot of this species elsewhere in the book); the photo of Lindernia anagallidea appears to be Mecardonia acuminata; and, oddly, the illustration of Mecardonia acuminata appears to be Capraria biflora. Another bugaboo of printing flower photos crops up here, too, with a few of them appearing to be upside down, most noticeably the shot of Habenaria quinqueseta. And in a book this voluminous, it’s almost inevitable that an occasional misspelling should creep in, such as “Chatahoochie” for Chattahoochee, “Aguilegia” for Aquilegia, “Senecia” glabellus for Senecio glabellus, or “St. John’s River” rather than the currently accepted St. Johns River (no apostrophe).
On a purely technical/editorial note, the book persists with the outdated academic style of lowercasing widely recognized geographic regions of Florida, most egregiously Panhandle, but also the directional designations in South Florida, Central Florida, North Florida, etc. Also, style usages are not consistent throughout. For example, in some places, Coastal Plain is capitalized and in others not, and there are places where the older spelling of savannah (with the final “h”) is used and others where it’s spelled as the currently accepted savanna (no final “h”).
As with most wildflower guides nowadays, the species are presented in color groupings. This approach is said to be helpful to the amateur in ascertaining the identity of a flower. But the drawback is that it arbitrarily separates closely related species, making comparisons of family characteristics more difficult. Thus, the milkweeds, for example, are scattered among the red, pink, blue, orange, white and green color sections (with a second illustration of the normally orange Asclepias tuberosa included in the yellow section for good measure).
Within each color grouping, the species are presented alphabetically by botanical name, including the author of the currently accepted name (although in Epidendrum conopseum, for example, the author is listed as Nikolas Jacquin, rather than the correct Robert Brown).
Each entry also includes, where appropriate, a very brief synonymy of better-known previous botanical names and the botanical and common designation for the plant family to which the wildflower belongs. There are some places, though, where a slightly expanded synonymy could have been used, for instance including Smallanthus uvedalius as a synonym under Polymnia uvedalia or Packera anonyma under Senecio anonymus. Oddly, the synonym under Hedyotis procumbens is shown as Hedyotis procumbens, where it should be Houstonia procumbens
Besides showing one or more of the common names for the wildflower under consideration, the discussion of the species covers these categories: plant habit (perennial versus
annual, tree versus vine, etc.); leaves; inflorescences; flowers; habitat and distribution; and additional comments (including flowering season, conservation status, etc.). One distributional error is found under Encyclia tampensis, where the authors list its range outside Florida as “south into and through the West Indies.” As now understood, this orchid species is known only from Florida and the Bahamas.
Of the 20 pages of introductory material, 18 are devoted to a useful discussion of the ecological communities found in the areas covered by the book, including a list of plant species characteristic of each community. Equally helpful at the back of the book is a fairly detailed glossary and an index printed in type large enough not to cause eyestrain (a failing of some other similar wildflower books).
Despite some of its shortcomings, Wildflowers of Florida and the Southeast would be a good addition to the library of any wildflower lover, most especially for the vast number of species it includes.
Heart of
The Florida Native Plant Society PO Box 278
Melbourne FL 32902-0278
FNPS Chapters and Representatives
1. Broward ................................Richard Brownscombe ......richard@brownscombe.net
2. Citrus ...................................Gail Taylor ..........................ggtaylor@tampabay.rr.com
3. Coccoloba ............................Dick Workman ...................wworkmandick@aol.com
4. Cocoplum .............................Anne Cox ...........................anne.cox@bellsouth.net
5. Conradina .............................Vince Lamb .......................vince@advanta-tech.com
6. Cuplet Fern ............................Deborah Green ..................watermediaservices@mac.com
7. Dade ....................................Lynka Woodbury ................lynk305@gmail.com
8. Eugenia ................................Judy Avril...........................jfavril1@comcast.net
9. Heartland .............................Susan Olson ......................olsoncheek@msn.com
10. Hernando .............................Brooke Martin ....................brooke_martin@mac.com
11. Ixia .......................................Linda Schneider.................lrs409@comcast.net
12. Lake Beautyberry .................Jon Pospisil .......................jsp@isp.com
13. Lakelas Mint .........................TBD ...................................TBD
14. Longleaf Pine ........................Cheryl Jones......................wjonesmd@yahoo.com
15. Lyonia ...................................Jim McCuen ......................jimmccuen@yahoo.com
16. Magnolia ..............................Scott Davis ........................torreyatrekker@gmail.com
17. Mangrove .............................Al Squires .........................ahsquires@embarqmail.com
18. Marion Big Scrub ..................TBD ..................................TBD
19. Naples ..................................Ron Echols ........................preservecaptains@aol.com
20. Nature Coast ........................Russell Watrous .................russelljwatrous@yahoo.com
21. Palm Beach ..........................Lynn Sweetay ....................lynnsweetay@hotmail.com
22. Pawpaw ............................... Sonya H. Guidry ................. sonyaguidry@yahoo.com
23. Paynes Prairie ......................Sandi Saurers ....................sandisaurers@yahoo.com
24. Pine Lily ...............................Jenny Welch ......................mwelch@cfl.rr.com
25. Pinellas ................................Debbie Chayet ...................dchayet@verizon.net
26. Pineywoods ...........................Rick Dalton ........................rickinfl@comcast.net
27. Sarracenia ............................Jeannie Brodhead ..............jeannieb9345@gmail.com
28. Sea Oats ..............................Martha Hotz .......................marthadhotz@gmail.com
29. Sea Rocket ..........................Paul Schmalzer ..................paul.a.schmalzer@nasa.gov
30. Serenoa ................................Dave Feagles .....................feaglesd@msn.com
31 Solidago ................................Amy Hines .........................amy@rustables.com
32. South Ridge ..........................TBD ...................................TBD
33. Sparkleberry..........................Betsy Martin ......................betsymartin@windstream.net
34. Sumter .................................Vickie Sheppard.................vsheppa@cox.net
35. Suncoast .............................Shirley Denton ...................president@suncoastnps.org
36. Sweet Bay ...........................Ina Crawford ......................ina.crawford@tyndall.af.mil
37. Tarflower ..............................Julie Becker ......................jlbecker@cfl.rr.com
38. University of Central Florida ...Christy Bitzer-Jaffe ............christy270@knights.ucf.edu
39. University of Florida ...............Sarah Thompson................ssethom5@ufl.edu
Volunteer opportunity: volunteer needed for Okaloosa/Walton County area.
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