Florida Native Plant Society Blog

FLORIDA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY PO Box 278 Melbourne, FL 32902 https://www.fnps.org Valerie Anderson, Director of Communications and Programming Phone: 386.852.2539 | Email: communications@fnps.org Florida Native Plant Society Purchases 12.5 Acres to Protect Endangered Species With generous private donations and grant awards from the Felburn Foundation and The Nature Conservancy, the Florida Native Plant Society completed the purchase of 12.5 acres of rare sandhill habitat in Marion County that will help protect the critically endangered plant Clasping warea ( Warea amplexifolia ) and the federally threatened Florida Sand Skink ( Plestiodon reynoldsi ). Marion County is home to the largest population of Clasping Warea and one of the northernmost occurrences of the Florida Sand Skink. In 2014, the Florida Native Plant Society and Putnam Land Conservancy formed a partnership to acquire and preserve an approximately 400 acre corridor of lands to protect rare and endemic ...

Clasping Warea is a Federally-Endangered plant. Our mission is to protect the native plants of Florida, and there are no plants that need protection more than ones that are on the endangered species list!  We have been working since 2012 on monitoring Clasping Warea on the Warea Tract of the Seminole State Forest. Tarflower Chapter leads volunteer outings and hikes in this valuable property that is otherwise closed to the public.  We also monitor three other sites with Clasping Warea within the rapidly developing Central Florida area. We have decided to take action to protect the largest population of Clasping Warea in Florida. It’s unprotected and could be developed at any time.  We’re calling this place “The Warea Area” because there’s so much of it, plus, it rolls right off the tongue. View our photo album of this beautiful piece of real Florida here .  Help us save this endangered species by donating today.