Lake Wales Ridge, June 12-13, 2011

We revisited some of the places in the Lake Wales Ridge area that we visited in September 2010. It's well outside of Brevard County, but that area has some unique wildflowers. As we did last year, our first stop was the Blue Cypress Recreation Area on CR 512, south of Fellsmere. Lake Walk-in-the-Water in Polk County was our next stop, then Hickory Lake Scrub on US 17 south of Frostproof,  and finally, Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park near Sebring.

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Winged loosestrife (Lythrum alatum var. lanceolatum, Lythraceae)
Native

This wildflower was found at the Blue Cypress Recreation Area and was a new species for me.

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Carolina wild petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis, Acanthaceae)
Native

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Florida greeneyes (Berlandiera subacaulis, Asteraceae)
Native, Florida endemic

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Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Vitaceae)
Native

Very early autumn color.

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Unidentified

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American bluehearts (Buchnera americana, Orobanchaceae)
Native

Right: Bluehearts seed capsules are shown with some other species' seeds that have parachuted in. Plant turns black when dried.

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Longleaf wild buckwheat; scrub buckwheat (Erigonum longifolium var. gnaphalifolium)
Native; Florida endemic

This unusual plant is found only in the central ridge of Florida.

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Hairy dawnflower (Stylisma villosa, Convolvulaceae)
Native

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Coastalplain St. John's-wort (Hypericum brachyphyllum, Clusiaceae)
Native

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Carolina redroot (Lachnanthes caroliana, Haemodoraceae)
Native

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Pale meadowbeauty (Rhexia mariana, Melastomataceae)
Native

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Golden trumpet; brownbud allamanda (Allamanda cathartica, Apocynaceae)
Not native

This is the common landscape plant allamanda, which I assume has escaped cultivation and now grows wild in some places. This and the following species were found in Hickory Lake Scrub.

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Coastalplain honeycombhead; yellow buttons (Balduina angustifolia, Asteraceae )
Native

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Sandlace (Polygonella myriophylla, Polygonaceae)
Native; Florida endemic; endangered

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Marsh

In Hickory Lake Scrub.

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Common buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis, Rubiaceae)
Native

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The remaining part of this post consists mostly of wildflowers found in Lake June-in-the-Winter Scrub State Park, near Sebring. Especially abundant in the park were alicia, meadowbeauty, dayflower, roseling, and palafox.

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Swamp azalea (Rhododendron viscosum, Ericaceae)
Native

Along short loop trail on south side of the park.

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Longleaf pine & loblolly bay

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Tarflower (Bejaria racemosa, Ericaceae)
Native

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Cottontail rabbit

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Florida alicia (Chapmannia floridana, Fabaceae)
Native; Florida endemic

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Whitemouth dayflower (Commelina erecta, Commelinaceae)
Native

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Grassleaf roseling (Callisia graminea, Commelinaceae)
Native

When this was first posted, I labeled it as C. ornata; however, I now see that it is C. graminea (7/23/12). Clues: It is growing in a clump and the leaves extend above the flower stalks.

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Feay's palafox (Palafoxia feayi, Asteraceae)
Native; Florida endemic

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Park Views

Left: Looking east towards Lake June-in-the-Winter. Right: Looking west towards parking lot.

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Loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus, Theaceae)
Native

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 Pale meadowbeauty (Rhexia mariana, Melastomataceae)
Native

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Chapman's goldenrod (Solidago odora var. chapmanii, Asteraceae)
Native

Near Paynes Creek Historic Park.

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Leavenworth's tickseed (Coreopsis leavenworthii, Asteraceae)
Native

Near Paynes Creek Historic Park.

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Fighting a small wildfire

US 441, south of Holopaw

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Wickham Park Wildflower Field Trip, June 4, 2011

On Saturday, June 4, I led a small group from the Conradina Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society on a field trip through  some of the woods on the north side of Wickham Park. My granddaughter Liz acted as my assistant. She checked off the plants as we came across them and called out the reference number to a comprehensive listing of plants I had previously found in Wickham Park, and which I had distributed to the group. On this day we found and identified about 50 plants. 

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Following are some photos from the tour. All photos, except the first group photo, were taken by Liz. The two flowers depicted are loblolly bay and tarflower. (Click to enlarge.)

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Following is a simplified map of the area of Wickham Park that we toured (click to enlarge).

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Following is a list of the wildflowers and other plants we saw during the field trip. The numbers in the left-hand column are references to a comprehensive list of all the plants I've found in the park.

Area 1 (north side of disc golf)
116	Southern beeblossom
52	Blackroot
152	Rough hedgehyssop
159	Elliot’s yelloweyed grass
44	Roserush
146	Loblolly bay
Area 2 (N-S ditch next to unpaved road into Youth Camping Area)
150	Capeweed, frog fruit
34	Oakleaf fleabane
122	American bluehearts
54	Creeping oxeye *
24	Spanish needles
36	False fennel
21	Common ragweed
22	Groundsel tree, saltbush
114	Pale meadowbeauty
67	Fourpetal St.John’s-wort
65	Coastalplain St.John’s-wort
51	Rosy camphorweed
2	Elderberry
Area 3 (along E-W ditch on south side of YCA)
32	Tall elephantsfoot
119	Peruvian primrosewillow *
140	Largeflower Mexican clover *
145	Rustweed
18	Gallberry
75	Rusty staggerbush
73	Tarflower
84	Partridge pea
Area 4 (N-S trail on east side of YCA)
140	Small leaf or Old-world climbing fern
105	American beautyberry
4	Adam’s needle
15	Florida milkweed **
9	Netted pawpaw
106	Wild pennyroyal
58	Pricklypear
Area 5 (E-W trail on north side of YCA)
7	Winged sumac
Area 6 (N-S trail that runs north from previous trail)
37	Mohr’s thoroughwort
Area 7 (trail to “boggy” area, runs west from previous trail)
13	Button rattlesnakemaster
115	Yellow colicroot
99	Largeflower rosegentian
76	Fetterbush
77	Shiny blueberry
130	Yellow milkwort **
81	Chinese tallowtree *
Area 8 (continuaton of N-S trail, Area 6, then turn east)
141	Florida beargrass **
Area 9 (N-S sandy trail, eventually rejoins Area 4)
50	Narrowleaf silkgrass
63	Florida scrub frostweed
64	Pineland pinweed
60	Pineland scalypink
77	Lesser Florida spurge **
61	Gopher apple
23	Yellow buttons
53	Chapman’s goldenrod

* = non-native; ** = Florida endemic; 6 June 2011

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