The flora found along Florida’s trails is unlike anything you’ll find elsewhere in the United States, and that’s just the native species. This visual guide is to introduce you to Florida’s diverse plants and trees.
Bald Cypress
A giant among trees, the bald cypress is an imposing sight. Unlike its relative the pond cypress, it prefers growing along water in motion, such as rivers, streams, and sluggish swamps.
Black Mangrove
Black mangroves have shiny leaves and dark round seed cases. Their most distinguishing feature is their pnuemataphores, finger-like protrusions around the tree like slender, miniature cypress knees.
Buttonwood
Buttonwood grows upland, on the land side of the mangrove community, tolerant of rooting in loose sand, rock, and dried marl.
Cabbage Palm
The state tree of Florida, the cabbage palm (also called sabal palm) is an iconic symbol found in almost every habitat in Florida, although it is less frequently seen in upland areas.
Deer Moss
Large puffy lichens, such as pale greenish-gray Cladina evansii and yellowish Cladina subtenuis are lumped under the colloquial name of deer moss.
Florida Rosemary
Florida rosemary (Ceratiola ericoides) is not related to the edible herb rosemary, which is in the mint family. It is one of the showier shrubs in scrub habitat due to its rounded shape and sometimes enormous size.
Florida’s Toxic Trees
Southeast Florida is home to two poisonous trees, the poisonwood and the manchineel. Learn how to recognize them so you don’t get too close, and find out how truly dangerous they are.
Gray Nickerbean
Flowering mounds of gray nickerbean are found along the tropical coastal habitats of Florida. The beans float away with the tide and are polished by the waves, appearing as “sea beans” on other shores.
Gulf Coast Lupine
Gulf Coast lupine (Lupinus westianus) is a threatened species found in sandhill/clayhill habitats in the far western corner of Florida.
Longleaf Pine
The tallest of Florida’s pines, longleaf pine also has the longest needles, more than a foot long. Favored for lumber, most of the longleaf pine forests of the Southeast have been logged, but you can still immerse in impressive longleaf pine stands on Florida’s trails.
Moonflower
A night bloomer that begins to close as daylight arrives, moonflower (Ipomoea alba) is commonly seen around Lake Okeechobee and throughout the Big Cypress as a draping vine cascading over trees and shrubs.
Red Mangrove
Red mangroves are the easiest of the mangroves to identify due to their “walking legs” root systems. Note the bean-pod-like “roots” at their bases: these are miniature mangroves spawning, fully formed plants waiting to float off with the next high tide.
Red Maple
Also known as the swamp maple, the red maple is one of the more common large trees found in Florida’s floodplain forests. It’s by far the most colorful, too, sporting bright crimson leaves in late fall and early winter.
Saltwort
The thick succulent leaves of saltwort are commonly seen along coastal fringes and mangrove forests. Used as a medicinal herb and as a tea, saltwort is thought to relieve asthma, constipation, and gout
Sand Cordgrass
It’s found throughout Florida, in freshwater marshes and along the rim of saltwater marshes, and is by far one of the showiest grasses in Florida, especially when the huge tufts are ruffled by a breeze – sand cordgrass.
Sea Myrtle
Found along the coast and inland waterways, large bushes that burst into blooms of white puffs in fall are sea myrtle (also known as saltbush or groundsel bush), baccharis halimfolia.
Strangler Fig
Slowly suffocating its host by creating a leafy canopy above it and roots that surround it, the strangler fig (Ficus aurea) earns its name. You’ll see it throughout tropical habitats in South Florida.
Swamp Sunflower
One of Florida’s showiest wildflowers, the swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius) comes into its glory in numerous locations around the state in the fall
Tulip Poplar
One of the easier trees to pick out while walking through the hardwood forests of the Appalachians, the tulip poplar has distinctive tulip-blossom shaped leaves and a large and extremely showy flower. It’s found in Florida as south as Winter Springs.
White mangrove
White mangroves are the most tree-like of the mangrove family. They have oval light green leaves—the other mangroves have dark green, elliptical leaves.
Wild Pennyroyal
Frequently seen along the trail and in open areas in scrub habitats, wild pennyroyal (Piloblephis rigida) is a showy wildflower found in Florida’s peninsula.
