Florida Native Plant Society Blog

Lupinus cumulicola Text and photo by Roger L. Hammer, edited by Valerie Anderson From January to May each year the white sand scrub on the Lake Wales Ridge in Lake, Osceola, Polk, and Highlands Counties are adorned with the cheery blue flowers of the Florida endemic sandhill lupine (pronounced LOO-PIN).  Some botanists consider it a synonym of  Lupinus diffusus ,  but others argue that  L. diffusis differs by its habitat, range, prostrate to decumbent stems, orbicular-reniform (kidney-shaped) standard, and a nearly straight beak on the pods.  The stems of  Lupinus cumulicola  are usually erect with gray-green, silky pubescent, elliptic leaves that average 2”–3” long and about 1” wide. The pods have a curved beak. Lupinus  is taken from  lupus,  or “wolf,” and alludes to the curious belief that these plants consumed soil fertility, when, in fact, they improve the soil with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The specie...

By Becca Massip Figure 1: The Pineland Butterfly Pea, Centrosema arenicola , is an endangered species found in Duval County, Florida Photo credit: Shirley Denton This post is one of a series from professor Nisse Goldberg's Plant Taxonomy students at Jacksonville University. FNPS blogger Laurie Sheldon assisted the students with their initial drafts, providing suggestions for editing and content development. The Fabaceae family is known as the Pea Family. It is the third largest family amongst flowering plants, containing over 16,000 species. There are 314 species in Florida alone, 168 of which are natives! This family is found in temperate and tropical environments all over the world however, most species prefer seasonally dry habitats. This family is very unique because it can directly fix atmospheric nitrogen with the help of root nodulating bacteria. Characteristics Leaves: simple, trifoliate, pinnate, or bipinnate Fruit: legume Flower: zygom...