Florida Native Plant Society Blog

We're proud to announce we were awarded a Powerful Communities Grant from Duke Energy for our Conservation and Habitat Restoration for Two Endangered Mint Species! We're putting it to work by deploying staff and volunteers to monitor two populations of endemic Florida mints. The first rare mint, Blushing Scrub Balm ( Dicerandra modesta ), is endemic to Polk County. The second is Longspurred Balm ( Dicerandra cornutissima ) and is endemic to Marion and Sumter Counties. Both are State and Federally Listed Endangered native plants. We have two main goals: annually monitor these two populations and restore the two sites. The largest and only publicly-protected population of Longspurred Balm occurs on the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway in Marion County. This population was impacted by the recent construction of an access road. There is only one population of blushing scrub balm on public lands and possibly only one small population remaining on private lands

On December 5th, Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) Executive Director Juliet Rynear joined staff from the Atlanta Botanical Garden (ABG) and volunteers from FNPS, Jacksonville Zoo, and Jacksonville Arboretum to monitor Florida Torreya trees in Torreya State Park , near Bristol. This was just 1 day in a week-long monitoring expedition that takes place annually on public property where this rare tree occurs. The FNPS TorreyaKeepers project is focused on working with private landowners to locate and conserve trees on private property. This project will expand upon the work that ABG is doing and help to conserve more of the genetic diversity of Florida Torreya. Currently, we are working on a brochure to help private landowners identify Florida Torreya and distinguish it from other similar-looking trees. We will also be developing a brochure on best management practices to help private landowners protect the species on their properties. Each tree is assigned a unique number on a