Paw Paw Petals

 

Missing from our suite of species in the Back Woods is the Florida native dwarf paw paw, Asimina pygmea. Fortunately, they are found nearby on the westernmost undeveloped portion of the museum’s property. I captured a nice cluster of plants in bloom last week to share with our readers.

The flowers start out white then develop into a beautiful deep maroon color and are sometimes candy striped in between. The flowers are pendant along the stems developing at the leaf axis. The flowers are followed by an oblong edible yellowy green berry. Another common name for this species, gopher berry, may indicate that gopher tortoise make these an addition to their grassy diet. The larvae of Zebra Swallowtail butterfly feed on the foliage of many Asimina spp. as well.

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Plans are to capture the fruit and seed of these plants to cultivate and transplant them to the flatwoods areas of the Back Woods. That is if the Med Flys don’t beat us to them ;-)

Flora Bunda Indeed

The Habenaria floribunda are blooming up a storm in the Back Woods. We are seeing these lovelies in more locations than in previous years possibly due to some of the mechanical thinning (more light reaching the forest floor) we have done to control native and non native vines .

Also known as the toothpetal false reinorchid or mignonette orchid (etymology: dainty and green), this Habenaria sp. is common throughout much of Florida.

Natives for Your Neighborhood has a nice description of the growing requirements of this native terrestrial orchid.

There are a few more photos from our highlight of this species last December http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Plant.aspx?id=799.

http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Plant.aspx?id=799

Blazing Star

 

 

Family: Asteraceae

Genus: Liatris

Species: tenuifolia Nutt.

Common: blazing star, gayfeather

 

Like lavender rockets erupting from the white sands of the sandhill, the lovely blazing star (Liatris tenuifolia) are putting on a serious show this fall. There are many species of Liatris in Florida that are found in many ecosystems from sandhill to wetland.  For now we have decided that our most common Liatris sp. in the Back Woods, those that are in the sandhill, are Liatris tenuifolia. This species reach heights of 3 feet or more with vivid pink to purple spikes with many flower heads made up of four or more florets (note the clusters of florets in the picture above). Bees, moths, and butterflies delight in the nectar and pollen of these flowers. You will often see blazing star nodding on breezeless days as hefty pollen laden bumble bees bend the slender spikes toward the ground as they nectar from flower to flower. Of little other wildlife value, the blazing star is a very popular wildflower with the evolved primate crowd and is easily sown from seed.

Narrowleaf Silkgrass

Family: Asteraceae

Genus: Pityopsis

Species: graminifolia (Michx.) Nutt.

Synonym: Heterotheca graminifolia

Common: narrowleaf silkgrass, grassleaf golden aster

Lovely narrowleaf silkgrass (Pityopsis graminifolia) are adorned in dazzling yellow flowers this time of year for their part of the sandhill fall show. Those lovely yellow flowers about the size of a dime are visible from mid to late summer through late fall. Through out the rest of the year it often appears similar to a clump of grass but, the narrowleaf silkgrass is easily recognized by the silvery sometimes densely haired foliage for which it is named. Growing between one and three feet tall, this native Florida sandhill perennial prefers sunny open dry sites. They are often found in colonies spreading out by rhizomes and also propagate by seed. Some text note the narrowleaf silkgrass as an important food for gopher tortoise.

Song of the Cicada

The cast nymphal skeleton of a cicada clasped tightly to a branch of silkgrass (Pityopsis graminifolia). After four years underground and four molts, this was the last nymphal instar of the cicada. From this molt they emerge the winged adults that fill the summer nights with song.

If you are originally from up ‘north a ways’ you may remember the cicadas of your childhood summers varying from year to year. Northeastern populations of some cicada species are periodical and may appear in mass numbers in 13 to 17 year cycles. In Florida, populations of adults are produced every year.

Cicadas nymphs and adults both feed on plant fluids but neither is considered a serious pest in Florida. On the the other hand, adult cicada are considered good eating by numerous wildlife and are considered a notable survival food for humans as well. Hmmmm.

A nice time lapse video of a cicada molting from last instar to adult

Coastalplain Palafox

The sandhill is putting on its annual fall show. Puffs of pale pink coastalplain palafox (Palafoxia integrifolia) dot the white sands in between lavender spires of blazing star (Liatris sp.). The palafox has a sweet fragrance and beetles of all kinds just seem to love it. Somewhat non descript much of the year, this pastel beauty is common in dry pinelands throughout Florida and most obvious during the fall bloom.

Taters for Breakfast

Recently I had observed that “something” was actually eating the air potato. At first I thought it was a caterpillar of some sort but, I should have known better by the pattern of munching on the leaf surfaces. Yesterday, while in the midst of my glee (spraying air potato with herbicide); I noticed what finds our invasive pest a tasty snack. Slugs!!!!

From little itty bitty guys to this considerable slimy monster, they were everywhere I looked. I don’t know much about slugs (identification requires that you take a closer look at their underside) and these guys could even be non native but, I have a soft spot for most things that move. So, a little of my joy in the herbiciding process was sapped when it was obvious that slugs aren’t all that found of glyphosate (Roundup). There is a pretty cool page on slug id from the University of Florida. Apparently Florida is pretty depauparete in slug fauna (only three native species) and we are in a constant battle to prevent new species from being introduced and threatening our agricultural industry. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/Florida_slugs.htm

A face only a mother could love…look at those cute little retracted antennae…the top two are for the eyes and the bottom serve as the nose…looks like the radula (scraping teeth in mouth) is hidden or retracted…the ribbed tissue in the middle is the foot and the fleshy surround is known as the mantle.