Plants of Florida and the Bahamas

Abundant native tree along the immediate coast and into the brackish canals, Red Mangrove is one of the most easily recognized trees in Florida with its distinctive prop root system.

Critically important components of the ecosystem, mangrove systems are crucial to food webs of marine ecosystems by serving as a nursery for many species of fish, shellfish, and other organisms. Without extensive groves of mangroves along the coast, we would have virtually no fisheries industry.

Leaves are fairly thick, untoothed, and opposite in arrangement.

Flower detail.

Seeds germinate in the fruits while still hanging on the tree, sending out a distinctive, tough green root. When dropped from the tree, these propagules can float in water for several months until rooting in a substrate, or they may immediately plop into mud and start growing.

To use zoological distribution terms, Red Mangrove is a rare vagrant to North Carolina. Occasionally propagules wash up on shore, but finding an entire tree at Cape Hatteras was unprecedented! The blobs on the branches are dried mats of Sargassum seaweed. Apparently this tree was liberated from an island in the Bahamas by a hurricane, was carried north in the Gulf Stream, and then was blown ashore in NC by strong storms.

Found in coastal habitats just above high tide, Black Mangrove trees grow in the Gulf states in the US, and throughout the West Indies and Central America. Avicennia is placed in the Acanthaceae.

Leaves are fairly thick, oppositely arranged, and untoothed.

Black Mangroves produce pneumatophores, upright woody projections from the roots, which are thought to aid the plant with transporting oxygen to the roots.

Pneumatophores also help trap sediment during the tides.

Often ecologically classified with the mangroves, Buttonwood is an important component of tropical coastal ecosystems.

Buttonwood flowers produce nectar attractive to many butterflies, including this Lyside Sulphur.

Native to Florida and the Bahamas, Seven-year Apple is a very salt-tolerant small tree bearing lemon-shaped fruits that can persist over a year. Casasia is in the coffee family (Rubiaceae).

The fruits eventually turn black and have edible pulp enjoyed by various bird species.

In the same plant family as Poison Ivy (Anacardiaceae), all parts of Poisonwood carry the irritant that causes painful, itchy, blistering rashes in many people. Leaves compound usually with 5 oval leaflets that often have black resin spots.

Bark is thin, gray, scaly with reddish-brown patches. Bark often shows black resin blotches.

Yellow-orange fruits (drupes) are also enjoyed by many species of birds including the rare White-crowned Pigeon.

In the US, Poisonwood is found only in Florida where common in the keys. Poisonwood is also common in the Bahamas and West Indies down through Central America.

This noxious invasive weedy tree is native to South America and has become established as a pest species in FL, TX, HI, and CA in the US. It chokes out native vegetation and major removal projects are underway in FL. This tree should never be purposefully planted in North America.

In the same family as Poison Ivy (Anacadiaceae), Brazilian Peppertree has opposite, compound leaves.

The ripe red berries are eaten by birds and distributed far and wide.

Native to shores of the Pacific & Indian Oceans in subtropical to tropical regions, this species is frequently planted as an ornamental in Florida where it escapes as a weedy tree.

Large, beautiful flowers usually only live a single day and are yellow in the morning to early afternoon but turn deep red later in the day.

In winter especially, some flowers may live a second day resulting in a very unusual look as a single tree sports flowers of two very different colors!

Bark detail.

This common coastal large shrub to small tree is native to Florida. It flowers in the winter and produces dark berries in the late spring, which are enjoyed by birds.

Simple, opposite, untoothed leaves are mostly shed in winter, but a few often remain.

Bark is gray with many raised bumps (lenticels) and is often patchy in color due to lichen colonization.

This southern Florida native cycad is the caterpillar host plant for the spectacular little Atala butterfly.

A Florida native, Fire Bush is a popular nectar source for butterflies such as this Zebra Heliconian (Heliconius charithonius).

Native shrub/vine found mostly in sandy habitats along the coast.

Nickerbeans are reported to be caterpillar foodplants for such species of butterflies as the Federally Endangered Miami Blue and the Nickerbean Blue.

This Florida native wildflower grows in coastal regions of southern FL as well as TX.

Named for the way the inflorescence curls like the tail of a scorpion.

Scorpion Tail is a good nectar source for butterflies. It's in the plant family Boraginaceae.