~
Frances Howard
the Gulf Coast, once and lovely beach that hardly a break all the generous store of sand.
narrow strip of sand redunes behind the beach the natural flow of no longer give up sand and they can no longer
a fixed land-form like a dynamic changing loose sediment and a bar offshore, and behind; and it responds to winds, currents, and
formed by the wind. A up sand from the flinging it into the air. slowed by something
- a stone,a ridge,a pieceof debris, but mostoftenbyagrowingplant.As it slows, the wind drops its burden, and the sand builds up behind the
obstruction, beginning the formation of a dune.
Dune Vegetation
Dune plants must be drought resistant, like desert plants, becausesand holds very little water.
Pioneer plants that begin the formation of dunes can survive in almost plain sand, just beyond the reach of the waves.They endure saltsprayand
grow up through it. They are perennial, lasting long enough to consolidate the sand. They spread sidewise, so if one branch is washed out, they still survive. They grow tall enough to slow the wind and catch sand. Their root system reaches far out for what little moisture the sand can
pioneer plants are sea oats, panic grass,and railroad vine.
The pioneer plants catch sand,consolidate it with their roots, and enrich it with their leaves.They provide soil and shelter for the next group of plants, in what is called the shrub zone. Here, farther up the growing dune, you find iva, inkberry, Spanish bayonet, cactus, sea grape, snowberry, coontie, palmetto, and (
many others. Theshrubsin turn catchmoresand, create more soil and shelter, and make it possible for trees to grow in the forest zone. The chief trees of our forest zone on Casey Key are cabbage palm, southern red cedar, and finally continued next oaee
SANDDUNE ---from page 1
live oak. Of course, there are other trees, and herbsand annuals aswell. There is a natural successionasyou move from the sea-sideof the dune to forest;frombarebarrensandto a rich shrubs and trees. There is a slice of Zonesgradeintoeachother.A plant the plantsthatgrowthere.To protect
plants, are very vulnerable to traffic, even foot traffic. Their delicate roots spread out far and wide, to suck sand. Walking near them breaks the delicate root-hairs. Vehicles and peofrom all vegetation. In a washout belowabankIcanseetherootsofsea
beach isheavily used. Beneathand on either side of the walkovers, the county and the 4-H have planted seaoats, panic grass, railroad vine, and other pinesand behind the dune plantation, they have planted nickerbean. This is the only plant that thrives under Australian pines. It is a thorny tangled
public from walking through the sea
SeaOats (Uniola p'aniculata)
dune builders. It isthe most attractive and the most permanent. If buried, it grows up through the sandto the surface. Once started, it will spread, and Seaoats are hard to startfrom seed.
AttheNorthJetty'sParkatthesouth end of CaseyKey, there is a good example of beach revegetation. There the beach is building up. The county has built walkovers to protect the
Seedsmust be gathered right after the heads have lost their green color division from an established plant should be immediately planted in a large pot, lightly fertilized and well
growing you can plant it on the beach, above the reach of the waves, in a large hole so you don't disturb the
A stemof seaoats,cut low so it congrowth begins, can be sprouted in water. This takes a long time and
sprout. After a rain you can plant it right out on the beach.
The next best plant for revegetation is panic grass. It resembles sea oats, with white round seeds.It's not asattractive asseaoats, but it doesthe job almost aswell. It's much easierto propagate,and is common on the Key. You just cut a stem with a joint and
joint, put in water with panic grasscuttin&ismoreaptto rootthanif it were
Railroad vine, or beach morning glory, is the third of the pioneer dune builders. It also roots easily at the
the fall, the seed is plentiful and easily gathered. It makes senseto broadcast it over drifts of new sand. In summer,railroadvinesendslong
Railroad vine is not tall enough to be a real dune builder. But it can protect bare sand and it is an attractive plant. Most any plant is helpful if it will grow on the dune.
Other Common Beach Builders
Iva, or beach elder, is a succulent woody herb, an excellent dune builder, but hard to propagate. Seedlings transplant easily.
Sea rocket (Cakile fusiform is) is an annual of the mustard family. It is a bush-like herb that can gather a mound of sand. But it is an annual; it doesn't last. Small seedlings are easily transplanted. It makes a lot of seed which can be broadcast on bare sand. por-
tulacastrum) is a low, mat-forming plant, a succulent with thick stems and leaves, and a pretty pink flower. It grows far down near the vegetation line. It rootsat the joints assomany of the beach plants do. Its runners tumble over a cut bank to help it heal. It's easy to transplant: just cut a piece and bury it partially in the sand.
Oistichlis spicata is a spikey running grass. It stands up about a foot, and so gathers It also tumbles over the edge of a bank and helps it heal. It's easyto transplant by cuttings
Sandscome and go. We may slowly lose our beach,
everybody's interest to slow the loss. Wise useof land and the conservation of groundwater will help. So will protecting and planting of beach vegetation.
On a fragile barrier island we must live lightlv on the land. n
NATIVE on Endangered Plants
by Dr. KennethR.Langdon
Florida is unique in the United States as far as climate and the range of plant species are concerned. The climatic range from temperate in parts of the panhandle to tropical in extreme South Florida and the Keys allows
places as the Appalachian Mountains northward or in tropical America. Florida also has a few plants which occur nowhere else (endemics) as well as many plants of wide distribution.
Chapman's rhod?dendron (Rhododendron chapman;;) in liberty County
dangered plants as Fuch's bromeliad, Guzmania monostachia, and dwarf epidendrum,Encycfiapygmaea,from the American tropics just extending into Florida in Dade and Collier counties,respectively.We alsohaveplants like rue-anemone, Anemone/fa tha/ictroides, and pagoda dogwood, Comus a/ternifo/ia, common in central and northern U.S. with isolated populations along the Apalachicola River in West Florida. Chapman's rhododendron, Rhododendron chapman ii, with three separatesmall populations, one
Florida, and scrub plum, Prunus genicu/ata,in scatteredlocationsin the sandridge scrub of Central Floridaare examples of endemic plants growing only in Florida. Another endangered specieswith a narrow distribution and
varieties along the southwest coast of
grows in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.Theseand a number of other speciesare rare in Florida. Severalof them are in danger of becoming extinct within the near future if not pro-
Florida's native landscape grows, the importance of education grows, and the job of the Florida Native Plant Society becomes clearer. This second annual weekend Conference with workshops, lectures, and field trips, given by Florida's leading authorities on the state's flora, is a giant step in education.
dent Bill Partington will open the program, followed by Margaret Cole's lecture on Edible Wild Plants of North Florida, and a talk by Dr. Faith Campbellof the NaturalResourcesDefense Council on the Status of the Endangered SpeciesAct. Workshop ses-
Slides and films brought by participantswill beshownintheevening.
Dr. William Stern, Chairman of the Univ. of Florida Botany Dept., will openthe Saturdaysessionsat 9 A.M. with"The Florida Keys Revisited."
Meetings will continue through the day, with a special program at 8 P.M. by the "singing ecologists," Dale and Linda Crider, and Marvyne Betsch, called "Plants in Music."
Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, and field trips to Paynes Prairie with Dr.Dana Griffin and Dr. Archie Carr,
Prior to 1978a degreeof protection was given to some of our rarer plants by Section 865.06, Florida Statutes. The main feature of this law was that written permission from the property owner was required before any of the listed plants could be collected. In effect, this amounted to a prohibition against stealing, which was better covered elsewhere. For all practical purposes,this law was unenforceable, and few, if any, prosecutions were made under it.
andto SanFelascoHammockwith Dr.
The workshops to be offered include:
The Florida Scrub, Jack Stout . Marine Wetlands Restoration, Robin Lewis. Pine Rocklands, Sally Black. North Florida Landscape
Workman. Central Florida Landscape Design, FrancisAlsobrook and David Drylie .
Inventory, Steve Gatewood. Propagation Techniques for South
Dee Slenard . Propagation Techniand Jim Haeger. Propagation Techniques for North Florida, Steve Riefler and Gary Schultz. Phosphate Mine Vegetative Restoration, Andy for You! David Hall. Plant identificaYarlett Steepheads and Seepage Bogs, Bruce Means. Edible Plantsof North Florida, Margaret Cole. Opportunities for Commercial Growers, Designers, and Developers, Terry Mock.
(Think you can find something of interest there?)
Plant Society, you should be encouraging your friends and acquaintances to participate in this conference.
The Florida State Legislatu re in 1978 repealed Section 865.06 and passed a new law, Section 581.185, Florida
Statutes,intended to do a more effective job of protecting our threatened
groups, threatened and endangered. the threatened plant list are very similar to those in the repealedSection 865.06. The provisionsconcerning endangered plants, however, require both written permission from the
Services, Division of Plant Industry, P.O.Box1269,Gainesville,FL32602. tected.
by Marcy R. Bartlett
Asimina tetramera is currently under review for inclusion in the Federal list of endangered or threatened species. (Dec. 15, 1980)
By all the rules, this drawing should be labelled Asimina obovata.
LastsummerMargaret Hames,of the South Brevard Chapter of the FNPS, noticed this Asimina and included it in the vegetative list for the newlycreated Turkey Creek Sanctuary. Ten-
1.0., after six months of careful observation, would make itA. neurotica, for this isthe mostneurotic plant I've ever seen!
green fruit while some had already cast their shriveled fruit. In November, somewere bare, but mostwere not. In
young and small) retained yellowed leaves.In January,at last,they were a consistent community of plants, all bare and lavender-gray. Their weird, single-plane branching looked like reptile vertebrascatteredin the Turkey Creek scrub.
settledown to serious
growth habits. But while I painstakingly sketched branches I dared not cut, one of our friendly local4-wheel drive destruction machines traumatized one of these double-minded shrubs and set it blooming.
That was Ground Hog Day, and the
writing, April 14, the Asimina community in Turkey Creek encompasses everything from chubby budscovered with rusty hairs to fingery little fruits poking out of the stripped-down calyces. The blooming period has
opened at random on any branch like children too young to "take turns." Some opened before any leaves emerged; a sudden ruffled globe in a new part of the field would announce a pawpaw I had not charted before. Paranoia began to close in on me! Mychildrendo suchthingsto me,but native plant?
Most of these charming neurotics currently display (simultaneously) 2-, 3- and 4-sepalledblooms. I remember carefully combing one plant to be sure
ray, I thought, and triumphantly car-
LY\~J
find it had a fourth, fused, outer petal. Aargh!
fascination with Lepidoptera larvae
wretched plant has no hairs on the outside of its petals? (Six or more botanical referencessayit should.) So what if I can't draw atypical peduncle because the unforgiveable things rangefrom0.5cmto 2.5cm?Sowhat
When I comfort myself in the lost hours it is with these thoughts: this neurotic plant harbors swallowtail larvae. And: they're beautiful, and they're ours.
Protean characteristics? So what?
places and archeological digs to the third fastestgrowth rate in the state.
this lovely jape.
The quandary is not resolved, but will write after they collect more opinions.I withhold my label.
in short-sleeved, beige S,M,L. project Con-
the
Manatee Sanctuary
Bibliography of Florida
Botany
Countlesshours on the part of many people havegone into the compilation of a bibliography of articles and technical papers on Florida botany, ecology, and geologic history related to Florida flora.
Dr. Henry Whittier of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Central Florida has masterminded the project, with help printout, and Peggy Lantz arranged the printing.
will be on sale at the Florida Native Plant Conference in Gainesville. It wantsto knowwhereto lookfor inforand other sources,and have been arranged both alphabetically by author and subject matter.
Thisbibliography isan on-going project. Anyone suggesting additional references will aid in its continuing development.Thematerialisoncomascomplete up-datescan be issuedas needed.
A newvolumeof color photographs and descriptions of more than 500 of Florida's native and naturalized flowering plants is scheduled for publication this fall. Florida Wildflowers and RoadsidePlantsisby C. RitchieBelland Bryanj. Taylor. Ritchie Bell is a professor of botany at the University of North Carolina at. Chapel Hill, and authored "Wild vides the expertise on identification, the text, the keys, and the identity codefor this newbook.
Bryan Taylor is Chief Park Naturalist of North Carolina StateParks,and isa nativeFloridian.Heknewwhereto go to find the specimens to photograph, forthisbook.Surprisingly,someofthe photos that were hardest to get were ones of the most common flowersSpanish mossand chinaberry, for example - because nobody "bothers'" to take them!
often they do not include a view of the leaves,too, which I feelshouldbeincludedfor helpin identifying.
essential information: where it's found in Florida,when it blooms, whether or not it's protected, habitat, description of the flower, comparison on lookalikes, a code that provides the key to identification, and of course, its full
The Florida Chapter of The Nature Conservancy has an option to buy 14 islands in Kings Bay near the town of Kings Bay in the Crystal River are the winter home of the largest population
This bimonthly publication, subtiMarian Van Atta, gives information on propagate, pick, prepare, serve, and theLandatP.o. Box2131,Melbourne 32901, for $10 per year.
book
Edibles - published by Great Out-
of photos and plant descriptionsnearly 700 - shouldgiveyou a fiftyfifty chance of identifying any wild flower you find.
Wildflowers is a reasonable $17.50 for a book of this type. It is hard cover, cloth bound, 6" by 9", and about 360 pages. Florida Audubon Society and Florida Garden Club is sponsoringthe sale, and any prepublication orders will benefit those organizations.
directly from ypur local Garden Club president, and Audubon members
Society, 1101 Audubon Way, Maitland 32751. (Include $1.50 extra for tax and postage.)
CrystalRiverManateeSanctuary,P.O.
Slide Programs
David Hall has clarified the information concerning the slide and tape sets
One setof slidesison shrubsand one is on trees, and both are for West and North Florida. Separate sets will be
can be obtained from your County Hall, U of F,Gainesville 32611,and his
Spanish Moss in Bloom
Ifyou haveneverseenthe tiny green blooms of Spanish moss, now is the time to look for them. Someclaim that they have seen the moss so thickly in bloom that the fragrance permeated the air, but I cannot detect any odor from the blooms I'm finding. The palmetto is in bloom at the same timemaybe that was what they smelled! 0
Endangered Species List
The Federal Register of Endangered Species is available the Environmental Information Center, 935 Orange Ave., Winter Park 32789, for $1for postage. 0
The Florida Native Plant Society now hasover 500 members.
Compiled by the Editor
After a shaky beginning trying to find a working formula for our monthly meetings, the Palm Beach County Chapter of FNPS has settled down to a steady routine. The chapter meets the third Monday of each month at 7:30 PM at the Pine jog Center of Florida Atlantic University. short discussion of chapter business starts the meeting and a program of about a hour's length on someaspectof native plants by a featured speaker comes next. One of our membersthen givesan indepth talk on one native plant species and the meeting is adjourned, sometimes followed by committee meetings. A field trip that ties in with the monthly meeting's topic is scheduled for the weekend.
plants of a local state park. Field trips have taken our members looking for sinkhole ferns in ancient hammocks, hiking all day in the Big Cypress and exploring native areas in state and county parks. The chapter also manned a native plant exhibit at a local museum's weekend fair, selling over $250of plantsand bookswith someof the money going to our treasury and distributing complimentary "Palmetto"s and other literature. Plants were also lent to the Florida Wildlife Federation for an exhibit at their Florida Wildlife Fair but they came back damaged.
One major project the chapter has tackled is becoming involved in the planning for the new McArthur State Recreation Area, 250 acres of the last large intact area of beach/dune/hammock/mangrove transect in Southeast Florida. The present plan, given conceptual approval by the State Cabinet, damages large areas of native plants unnecessarily as compared to other alternatives.Two main changeswe're pushing are to get the main parking area moved from a tropical hammock to a spoil island covered with exotics and to tone down an extensive tram-
behind the coastal dune. Getting the classification changed to state park from recreation area is also important, so that recreational uses won't have priority over preserving natural communities.
The chapter is working with Audubon, Sierra Club, nearby
residents, and other concerned individuals and groups to effect these
can be found to accommodate recreational uses without largescale damage to our native heritage.One of the biggest disappointments so far has been the James Watt-ish attitudes of the Department of Natural Resources brass.
Following the expiration of their sixmonth terms, Steve Farnsworth has replaced Paul Cummings as chapter president and Cynthia Plockelman has taken over from Sally Black as vicepresident. Elections for a full one-year term will be held in September. In future months the chapter plans to look into adopting bylaws, investigate renovating an abandoned house in a county park for a meeting place, create a traveling informational exhibit for local events, start a monthly newsletter, and continue to share knowledge of native plants.
Steve FarnsworthD
On a very warm February 20th, 1982, members of the Central Florida Chapter of the FNPS gathered in the Biological Sciences Bldg. under the leadership of Dr. Henry Whittier, who introduced the sixteen members present to the work of the Biology Department in the drying and mounting of speciments of native plants and storing them for reference material.
group: Mrs. Alyene Hays, president; Sam Hopkins, vice president in charge of programs; Mrs. Mildred Sias, secretary; and Miss Ertis Givens, treasurer. With this information, the Central Florida Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society will ask for official recognition as an active chapter.
per member. The board subsequently decided that $5 would cover a family
this effect to sixty five local FNPS members. Twenty-five members have responded. The members present agreed to ac-
perty in east Orange County where the Orlando Utilities Commission plans to
there are six or eight endangered species in Orange County. Many temperate plants grow only as far south as Orange County, and many tropical plants grow only as far north
should be considered rare in this area. Specialists in horticulture from Valencia and Seminole Colleges and Stetson University, in addition to the Universi-
as experts in helping to identify and relocate endangered plants.
Mildred SiasO
(This excerpt is from an article by Neal Eichholz, biologist with the FloridaGameand FreshwaterFish Commission's Office of Environmental Services, which appeared in the March-April, 1982, issue of Florida Wildlife. Recommended reading. Ed.)
Florida's hammocks are wildlife's most valuable habitat and should be considered as state and national treasures that are a part of our heritage. Section 7, Article 2, of the State Constitution provides that "...it shall be the policy of the Stateto conserveand protect its natural resources
regu lates or controls the management or manipulation of thesebeautiful and
manateesandpanthersin Florida,we should be taking pictures of ham.: mocks as they are soon to be gone, forever. Only a major shift in emphasis
vironmental
evitable outcome.
Pineland threeawn, Aristida stricta (Michaux), is perhapsthe best known native grass in Florida. It bears the more common nameof wiregrass.The
the bristle or slender hair-like projections on the lemmaof the spikelet.The
/'" ..-/ /
Anumberof native grasses have great value for landscaping as well as decorative purposes. Pineland threeawn has been suggested for use in border plantings. Others will be describedand illustrated in future issuesof ThePALMETTO. G/vrne X-Sec.,t-/on 0.( k{ade. and value over a longer period of time. It has been verbally reported that pineland threeawn has been used as a border plant for landscaping.Since pagation has to be vegetatively by transplanting, which should be done during the coldest part of the winter season.
Historically, pineland 1hreeawn was probably collected asearly as 1803 in South Carolina. Records indicate collections in Georgia around 1852.One of the earliest to describe vegetative types in Florida and associate "wiregrass" as a species was Lt. j.C. Ives in 1856. Likewise, Hitchcock (1902), Harshberger (1914), Harper (1927), and Davis (1943) listed the ecosystems of South Florida and included "wiregrass" asa component of the flora. A largenumber of ecologists, botanists, researchers, and conservationists have since collected and
haustive study by Parrott (1967) indicated that pineland threeawn will not enter into reproductive phase unlessburnedduringor subsequentto the previousfall. Also,verylittle seed isproducedin southFlorida.
Pineland threeawn is easily recognized by its tough rolled blades which appropriately account for its more common name. Most authors list the grass as a bunch grass with a fibrous root system. Other authors maintain that pineland threeawn produces rhizomes (underground stems). The author has found only rare instancesof short rhizomes.
Pineland threeawn is a perennial, with basalgrowth often sixto eight inchesin diameter, leaf bladestwelve to twenty inches long, rolled, and hairy
throughout the ForestedCoastal Plain of the SoutheasternUnited States,and occurs on the deep, low-fertility sands of the region. Locally, pineland threeawn is closely associated with sawpalmetto.
This grass, along with eighteen other speciesof the genusAristida, occur in Florida. Therein lies a unique feature
primarily grow in the temperate and arid regionsof the world. Their occurrence in Floridaisstill to a largedegree unaccounted for.
Foraslong asthe cattle industry has prevailed in Florida pineland threeawn has been used as a native grazing
burning the old tough, wiry growth
available for a short six to eight weeks; thereafterthegrassbecametoughand oneortwo years.Thus,the"wiregrass management" of the native forage resourceswasa long establishedpractice.
Recently, range management pracadapted to Florida conditions has' changed the grazing management practices. Other species of grassesin Florida, long overgrazed (particularly the bluestems and panicums), will through management replace pineland threeawn with eight to ten
Davis,johnH.Jr.1943,Thenaturalfeaturesof SouthernFlorida.GeologicalBul.No. 25State Dept. of Conservation, Tallahassee, Fla. 311 pp. :11..-
State Geological Survey. Tallahassee,Fla. 206 pp. illus.
Harshberger,john W. 1914,The Vegetationof South Florida, south of 27°30' north, exclusive of the Florida Keys. Trans. Wagner Free Institute Science. Vol. 7. Part 3. Map. Hitchcock, A.S. 1902,A listof plantscollected in lee County, Fla. Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 9: 189-225.
Ives, j.C. 1856, Memoirs to accompany
Parrott, Roger Thomas 1967, A
Pineland threeawn is distributed
study of wiregrass (Aristida stricta, Michaux) with particular reference to fire. M.S. Thesis. Duke University.
by Steve Riefler
Thesmoothhickory(Carya only found where limestone or shell underlies the soil. The area must be fairly moist or have a fairly constant water table. The LakeButler-Wekiva Springs-Oviedo area is this type of habitat. It isfound throughout the entire Appalachian region asfar south as Central Florida.
The hickory is strong-limbed, with good, dark-colored bark, and hardly any diseases, The leaves provide yellow fall coloring, and the nuts provide food for wildlife,
aplastic bag, and put the bag in the refrigerator for three months. Then place each nut in the soil wherever
seashells or coarse-ground limestone to thesoil.Yourhickoryshouldsprout very soon.
Vi ~15 ft.
This law provides a means of controlplants are collected. Permits are issued or refused according to the plants involved and other pertinent circumstances. No permits are issued for extremely rare plants, such as Rhododendron chapman ii, Chapman's rhododendron, and Ribes echinellum, Miccosukee gooseberry. Both species are also on the federal endangered list.
There is a provision in the law which allows registered nurseries to propagate endangered plants and sell tl:)_~i.rnursery propagated material, although they might be prohibited from collecting and selling these same species from the wild. This way, it is hoped to be able to satisfy the horticultural demand for such plants without further endangering the natural populations.
mendations to the legislature through the Division of Plant Industry. That council presently consists of: Chair-
Prickly apple (Cereusgracilis)
Plants and Animals; Vice Chairman, Mrs. Eve R. Hannahs representing the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs; Secretary, Dr. T. R. Alexander representing botanists of the Florida univer-
Dr. W.L. Beersrepresentingthe Florida Forestry Association; and Mr. jack Siebenthaler representing the Florida Nurserymen and Growers Association. Also normally in attendance at council meetings, though not members of the council, are Mr. R.E. Brown, Coordinator between the council and the Division of Plant Industry, and Dr. K.R.Langdon,Botanist for the Division, handling most of the endangered plant work except permitting. Meetings are advertised and are open to interested citizens.
The council is charged with reviewing the endangered and threatened plant lists and advising the legislature
on additions, deletions, or other
itself. Citizens wishing to give input can contact any member of the counrepresented by the council members. legislature revised Section 581.185 in 1980. The revision consisted of an additions and deletions, and transfer of some plants from one list to the other.Thestatutenow listsmorethan 40 endangered speciesand a largerlist of threatened plants. The next re-
january,1984,but other reportscan be given, if needed.
Thisnew law (Section581.185)has been a start in the right direction for protecting our endangered plants. people with this law and its provisions. with this law and enforcement is better developed, depredations of our rare plants should diminish and those plants should have an improved however, has no bearing on the proprobably the greatestthreat to mostof our endangered species. This is an future. 0
FLORIDA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
