PINE ROCKLAND PLANT TOUR

Susie Cummings TRTEverglades National Park

July 3, 2012

Three-in-One Hiking Trail

Wax Myrtle

Wax Myrtle

Oil from seeds and leaves were used as candles and

scents for candles.

Flocks of swallows spiral down to feed on the fruit.

Bracken Fern

Bracken Fern

Woody stalk; yellow and green dyes are

made from the roots. 

Pioneer plant –exists 20 years before

surrounding vegetation takes

over.fruit.

Southern Sumac

Southern Sumac

Used for leather making; roots used to

cure diarrhea.

Larvae from red-banded hair streaked butterfly feed on this

shrub.

Saw Palmetto Palm

Saw Palmetto Palm 

Fan leaves don’t have strings;

Leaves are used for thatch; fruit is used in

Europe to produce prostate medicine.

Rough leaf – Velvet seed

Rough leaf – Velvet seed

 The texture of the

leaf is rough – seeds are velvet; wood is

light brown, hard and heavy.

Stems are used for stakes and fuel.

Tetrazyglia (West Indian Lilac)

Tetrazyglia

Leaf veins channel rain off its surface;

In the Bahamas, a decoction of the leaves is

drunk to reduce night sweats.

 

Poisonwood

Poisonwood

Dark green leaves with yellow veins; may have black and orange

spots on trunk.

It has highly irritating sap that creates

a rash and blisters on humans.

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Slash Pine

Slash Pine

Harvested for homes in the 1800’s; wood used to

fuel Flagler’s trains.

Flying squirrels and red-headed woodpecker

almost extirpated because of the loss of trees.

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Slash Pine

Slash Pine bark

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Young Slash Pine

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Cheeseshrub

Cheeseshrub

The odor of the fruit is similar to hot limburger

cheese.

The roots produce dyes of yellow and orange; used

for laxatives; treats impotency and mental

illness.

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Cabbage PalmSabal Palmetto

Cabbage Palm/Sabal Palmetto

Looks like the Saw Palmetto Palm but has

strings hanging from the fronds.

 The fruit is eaten by many animals and spread from

site to site.

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Ficus / Strangler Fig

Ficus / Strangler Fig

Seed is deposited by birds into crevices of

another tree, not the ground.

Seeds sprout and send roots down the trunk

of the host tree. Strangler fig grows and

squeezes host tree out of the way.

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Myrsine

Myrsine

Spread by birds and mammals; they have little pulp which passes

through the digestive track almost

intact.

Miccosukee used leaves to extend tobacco and called it white tobacco

seasoning tree.

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Greenbrier

Greenbrier (vine)

Birds spread Greenbrier seeds into

every Florida habitat; the fruit are black, waxy

berries. 

Berries supply dyes of blue, violet, and

purple.

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Lysiloma

Lysiloma

Smooth-barked tree with light green,

compound leaves.Green-yellow, powder-puff

flowers in summer provide food for flying

insects. 

Lichen grows on bark for the liguus tree

snail. 

Rice-a-Roni song

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White Fennel

White Fennel

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Tickseed

Tickseed

Yellow flowers with brown center; flowers

year-round.

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White-Top Sedge

White-Top Sedge

4-12 in stalks with white star-like flowers.

Insect pollinated; most sedges are wind

pollinated.

No human uses for this species but in Venezuela

it is used to treat sunstroke.

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Solution Hole

Solution Hole

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Porterweed

Porterweed

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Thistle

Thistle

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Tick Seed

Tick Seed

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Beautyberry

Beautyberry

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