Wednesday's Wildflower: Common Torchwood

Amyris elemifera, Common Torchwood

By Beryn Harty, Dade Chapter, edited by Valerie Anderson

Photo by Beryn Harty, Taken on roadside, Ramrod Key, FL
Family Name: Rutaceae

Genus/Species: Amyris elemifera

Common Name: Common Torchwood (Another common name is Sea Torchwood, which is deceiving because it's salt tolerance is rather low. According to the IRC, " It grows near salt water, but should be protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation."

Native Range: Eastern peninsular Florida, the West Indies, Mexico and Central America (Belize)

What kind of plant is it?: A flowering tree

Any interesting history: Green wood used as torches, twigs are burned as incense.

What is the shape, color and size of the flower?: Clusters of tiny white flowers, new leaf growth often very dark purple

What is the typical natural habitat? Hammocks

What benefits does it have for wildlife? Provides food and cover for wildlife. Larval host for Bahamian and Schaus Swallowtail butterflies. Birds and mammals eat fruits.

Propagation: (seed, seedling)

Availability: Grown by some native nurseries. Growing from seed sometimes successful (I’ve done it, myself).

Beryn Harty is a member of Miami-Dade Chapter FNPS as there is no current Keys chapter. She lives full time on Ramrod Key.

Other Links

Institute for Regional Conservation link: Common torchwood, Sea torchwood

USF Plant Atlas: Amyris elemifera

FNPS: Torchwood

Comments

Anonymous said…
Could you provide instructions on how you grew them from seed? How deep did you plant them? Did you score the seeds first? What kind of substrate? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!
February 1, 2018 at 11:35 AM
Chris said…
Beryn is a "she"
March 17, 2019 at 7:21 PM
Beryn Harty said…
As I mentioned in caption, the photo was taken of new growth on a roadside plant, and not one which I grew from seed. That said, I did grow some from seed a couple of years ago. As I recall, I let the seeds dry completely prior putting them in a pot and covering with a layer of dirt about 1/4" (one quarter inch) and then watering.
March 18, 2019 at 12:13 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday's Wildflower:Spanish Needle

Image
Spanish Needle, Bidens Alba Submitted by Donna Bollenbach, Suncoast Chapter Biden's alba , all photos by Donna Bollenbach Nothing attracts more butterflies and bees than a simple white flower called Bidens alba . Also called Romerillo, Beggar’s Tick, Spanish Needle or Monkey’s Lice, this Florida native wildflower is the third most reliable source of nectar for pollinators in our state. There would be many starving bees and butterflies if not for the Bidens family of flowers. More so, Bidens alba and its sister plant, Bidens pilosa , are both edible and have medicinal value. Yet, many gardeners have a love/hate relationship the plant, and some even consider it a pesky weed. Why?
Read more

Florida Native Azaleas

Image
Piedmont Azalea, Rhododendron canescens. Photo by Lilly Anderson-Messec By Lilly Anderson-Messec While growing up in North Florida, I began to recognize the arrival of spring by the boisterous show of white, pink, and fuchsia blooms of azalea shrubs. The house I grew up in had large, mature azalea hedges with a variety of different colors and forms. Every spring, my mom would bring in vases full of them and my dad loved to point out the showy shrubs as we drove through town. I suppose I assumed these plants were native, but most likely I never gave it a thought. I didn’t differentiate a native plant from a non-native one because I didn’t yet know the importance of native plants as the basis of our functioning ecosystems. I was so surprised when I learned the azaleas I was so familiar with (Rhododendron indicum) are actually transplants from Asia! They are favored by the horticultural industry for their fast, vigorous, and dense growth of evergreen leaves and large, showy blooms. Curio
Read more

Paradise Tree: Beautiful and Useful

Image
"The native Paradise tree is more useful than Google, and easy to grow." And how could any blogger resist leading off with this intriguing quote from the Key West Garden Club? I am a Master Gardener and a Master Naturalist, but I only know so much; so I always check out  statistics from experts before posting information about plants. I have a beautiful Paradise tree in my yard, it came from the raffle table at my chapter's program night about six years ago.   Paradise tree                Simarouba glauca For the first six years the little tree had a perfect, closed, cone shape; but just this summer I was astounded one morning to walk out and notice that my tree had changed. The canopy had begun to open up, there were open spaces between the layers of branches. It seemed to happen overnight. Proving again that a garden is constantly in motion, which is one of the fascinating things about observing them. Pinnate leaves of the paradise tree The leaves
Read more