A cultivar of a native, this boxelder stays under 30 feet with an outstanding display of chartreuse yellow leaves. It can take wet feet and once established can also withstand some drought. Boxelder is relatively fast growing, therefore has weaker branching and can suffer damage from ice or heavy snow.
Ilex x attenuata, is a natural hybrid of two North American species of holly (Ilex opaca and Ilex cassine). Longwood Gold is from seed collected at the Morris Arboretum. One of the plants grown from the seed turned out to have yellow fruit, and Longwood selected this plant for its fruit color and superior cold tolerance.
Gordonia is an attractive native tree for the home garden. It has fragrant, white 'camellia-like' flowers in the summer, and although mostly evergreen, some leaves turn red and drop during the autumn. Found continuously along the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains from North Carolina to the Florida panhandle, with segmented populations in the coastal counties of Alabama and southern Mississippi.
This is a shrub native to Eastern North America) and wonderful garden plant. It has nice flowers, abundant red fruit and outstanding bright red fall foliage. Once estabilished, it will sucker into an attractive clump. Although not widely used, the botanical name has been changed to Photinia pyrifolia 'Brilliantissima.'
Gentiana autumnalis, also known as the pine barren gentian, is native to the Atlantic coast from New Jersey southward to Georgia. Historically, fires caused by lightning were common in these wet pine barrens and coastal bogs where this rare species grows. These fires maintained the unique plant community by preventing the succession of the ecosystem to hardwood forest, in addition to recycling organic matter to the sandy, acidic and nutrient-poor soil.
The Venus fly trap is endemic in sandy, acidic, low-nutrient boggy soils in a small area of the coastal pine savannah along the border of North and South Carolina. Although a common house plant, Dionaea muscipula is very vulnerable in the wild, due in part to its popularity. Isolated wild populations are illegally harvested, decreasing the genetic diversity and damaging the delicate habitat.
False rosemary, federally listed as endangered by the Endangered Species Act, is one of five shrubby mints found in central Florida's scrub habitat. This short-lived, aromatic, perennial shrub occurs in fewer than 30 sites along a ridge area in central Florida. This scrub habitat is dominated by evergreen scrub oaks, sand pine and, in open areas, herbs and small shrubs, including short-leaved or false rosemary. These are fire dependent habitats and are home to numerous threatened and endangered plants and animals.
Chionanthus pygmaeus, the pygmy fringe tree, is found only in (endemic to) the sandy soils of dry hammocks and pine forests in central Florida. The pygmy fringe tree depends on fire to maintain the open and exposed conditions it requires. It has adapted the ability to re-sprout from the roots after these historic periodic burns. Much of the habitat of has been lost due to residential development and citrus production. Suppression of the naturally occurring fires has also impeded its growth.