Florida Native Plant Society Blog

Richard Poole was one of the original members of the Florida Native Plant Society’s Cuplet Fern Chapter , established in 2010. His longtime experience in plant and bird biology led to his love for propagating native plants, making bird boxes, and sharing his knowledge of plants and bird life in Florida. At our monthly meetings, Richard would bring a variety of plants for members to take home. He would explain how the plants would grow and support Florida birds, insects, and butterflies, which would encourage more backyard birdlife. At every plant sale, he would display his posters featuring bird migration patterns and local bird nesting. Children and adults alike enjoyed the wonderful photos of young nesting birds. Richard always had several homemade bird boxes to take home. He would explain how certain native plants were food sources for birds and encourage people to add them to their butterfly gardens. Richard was passionate in promoting how the relationship between bird biology and...

All photos, video, and article by Mark Kateli, Cuplet Fern Chapter President This event occurred in September 2019 in Sulphur Run Swamp, a tributary of the St. Johns River in the Seminole State Forest. An accompanying video of this memorable experience can be found here: https://youtu.be/9P3nVCJoNYQ Hammockherb or Gulf Hammock Indian Plantain, Hasteola robertiorum , is a facultative wetland plant that prefers to grow in dappled sun within swamp forest. To date, it is only found in two counties in Florida: Lake and Levy, and is listed as state-endangered [1] . The closely related false Indian plantain, Hasteola suaveolens , does not occur in Florida but has a wider distribution across several northern states where it also listed as endangered due to habitat loss and invasive plant competition [2] . There are a number of differences and similarities between species. Both Hasteola species flower in late summer to early fall but differ in the number of disc flowers present per inflo...