Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
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Friday - June 22, 2007
From: Buena Cista, VA
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives
Title: Plants native to South Florida and the Caribbean
Answered by: Joe Marcus
QUESTION:
What are the plants native to South Florida and the Caribbean?ANSWER:
There are a large number of plant species native to South Florida and the Caribbean. Too many, in fact, to even attempt to list in an email. Fortunately, there are some good online resources available to you as well as some published books for South Florida. Information regarding Caribbean native flora is more problematic.
The University of South Florida's Institute for Systematic Botany has created a very useful website, The Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants which is probably your best resource for information on South Florida plant species. Richard Wunderlin's Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida is an excellent written resource, though not strictly limited to South Florida.
Correll and Correll's Flora of the Bahama Archipelago is a standard reference for those islands. Unfortunately, we do not know of any exhaustive references for the rest of the Caribbean. Most books available are field guides to flowering plants and are limited in scope. The Integrated Taxonomic Information System provides geographic distribution information about plants in the Caribbean but you would have to download the entire database to filter them out.
More Non-Natives Questions
Seeking information on Crateeva asiatica, non-native herbal medicine
September 29, 2007 - Dear Mr. Smarty Plants,
I had a look at your website in hope of finding information about the plant Crateeva asiatica. Could you kindly help me to locate the information for the same?
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Correction of tree name from Bay Point CA
October 16, 2013 - The tree should of been Mulberry don't know how it was changed!!
Tuesday - October 15, 2013
From: Bay Point, CA
Region: California
Topic: Non-Natives, Cacti and Succulents, Trees
Title: Non-...
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Hardiness of Euphorbia milii from Marble Falls, TX
December 02, 2009 - What is the hardiness of euphorbia mili, crown-of-thorns?
view the full question and answer
Another plant with ice plant as the common name from Corpus Christi
June 17, 2010 - This is not a question, but your "ice plant" answer to El Cajon did not consider Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, which I believe is the common roadside succulent that ate California. God have mercy ...
view the full question and answer
Non-native vines poisonous from Bakersfield CA
May 17, 2013 - Are pink bower vines and stars and stripes mandevilla
toxic to dogs?
view the full question and answer
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