Juan Ponce de Leon named his discovery la Florida, Spanish for “flowery.” It is certainly an appropriate name. Situated at a latitude that combines Temperate, Sub-tropical and Tropical plants in the same stretch of a few hundred miles of land and islands, Florida has a wider range of plants — in terms of climate — than just about any Eastern state, and rivals most Western locations as well.

This isn’t an attempt to be all-inclusive, nor is it intended to be a primer of Florida plant life, unless you care to think of it as such. Nor are the identifications guaranteed. I have tried to use both common and scientific names as accurately as possible, but regional variations, folks names and my own identification skills all conspire against 100% accuracy. If you have any corrections, please feel free to email me.

All images on this and subordinate pages © Copyright William E. Webb, 2005-2008

Spatterdock (Nuphar luteum)

Spattderdock is a common emergent plant of temperate marshes and the edges of lakes slow-moving streams and canals. It propagates from roots (rhizomes) and from seed. Like all aquatic plants, its roots and other parts provide both food and shelter for all manner of small organisms. Deer and cattle browse the flowers, and beavers, nutria and other semi-aquatic creatures eat the roots. Ducks and other waterfowl feed on the seeds.

Mallow, a member of the Hibiscus family (or, rather, vice versa)

The Coral Bean or Cherokee Bean (Erythrina herbacea) may well have been one of the flowers Ponce de Leon encountered on his first Florida beach. Once a common plant of dunes, coastal uplands and scrub, it has been reduced in numbers across its range by destruction of habitat.

Mother-in-law’s Tongue, or Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata)

The long, narrow, sharp leaves give the plant its first name. The patterning on the leaves, resembling that on a snake’s back, provides the second.

Showy rattlebox (Crotolaria sp.)

Members of the pea family, rattleboxes are known for their showy blossoms and seed pods, which rattle in the wind and when brushed by a passerby.

Not exactly flowers, but with a beauty of their own, Fox
Grapes create a hint of Autumn at Green Cay Wetlands,
a managed filter marsh west of Boynton Beach, Florida.

Royal Poincianas are members of the pea family. Rather nondescript (not to say sorry lookin’) for most of the year, for a few weeks in Spring they live up to their name. The trees, common in urban areas (they are exotics) grow to 50′ and are visible from a mile in the air.