Florida Native Trees - Gallery 2

Galleries 1 2 3 4 5

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Pictures - (L) Live Oak in a Maritime hammock, (Center) Southern Live Oak leaf and bark detail, (Center R) Live Oak often has large, low horizontal growing branches and is host to a number of epiphytic plants and lichen. (R) Young trees and suckering branches may produce toothed and lobed leaves.

Name - Live Oak, Southern Live Oak

(Quercus virginiana)

Family - Fagaceae

Habitat - Coastal hammocks, Maritime Forests, Inland Hammocks, Hardwood Swamps on sandy, moist soils.

Description - Broad crown with a stout trunk to 4 feet in diameter and very large, low, spreading branches. Grows to over 50 feet tall with an equal spread. Leaves are alternate with slightly wavy, entire margins, leathery, dark green & shiny on upper surface.

Pictures - Coastalplain willow tree, leaves detail, flower detail.

Name - Coastalplain Willow, Carolina Willow

(Salix caroliniana Michx.)

Family - Salicaceae, Willow family

Habitat - Edges of rivers, ponds, lakes, ditches, marshes, open wet forests, shrub swamps.

Description - Native deciduous tree to 25 - 30 feet high, often with multiple trunks. Common throughout most of South Florida. Leaves are alternate, 2-7 inches long, lanceolate, with finely serrate margins.

Flower - Small yellow flowers on catkins, 3-4 inches long.

Pictures -  Strangler Fig engulfing Sabal Palm, Strangler Fig leaf detail.

Name - Strangler Fig, Golden Fig

(Ficus aurea Nutt).

Family - Ficus

Habitat - Hammocks, Swamps

Description - Native tree, often seen as a epiphyte seedling nestled in the frond boots of Cabbage palms (Sabal palmetto). Eventually engulfs and strangles the host tree and becomes a free standing tree.

Height to 60 feet with a broad, spreading crown and numerous aerial roots. Leaf alternate, 6-8 inches long, dark green, elliptic to ovate with entire, undulate margins.

Picture -  Dahoon Holly tree with inset showing fruit.

Name - Dahoon Holly

(Ilex cassine L.)

Family - Aquifoliaceae

Habitat - Bay swamp, Hardwood swamp, margins of wet prairies and marshes.

Description - Native evergreen shrub or tree, may grow to nearly 40 feet in height although usually smaller. Leaves are 1 1/2 to 3 inches in length, the margins of some leaves have small teeth, all have a small bristle at the tip. Flowers are in clusters, white, not conspicuous.

Fruit is a spherical red or yellow drupe 1/4 inch in diameter and is an important wildlife food source, especially for migrating song birds, native quail and turkey.

Pictures - Loblolly Bay Tree, Loblolly Bay Tree flower detail.
Name - Loblolly Bay

(Gordonia lasianthus (L.)J.Ellis)

Family - Theaceae

Habitat - Swamps, Bogs, Wet Flatwoods

Description - Native evergreen tree 60-70 feet in height, narrow conical crown. Leaves dark green, alternate, oblong, lightly serrate to crenate, 2 1/2 to 6 inches long.

Flower - Fragrant white or creamy white, 2-3 inches across, cup shaped with 5 petals surrounding numerous golden-yellow stamens. Begins flowering in May-June and throughout summer.

Pictures - Magnolia tree flower, Magnolia fruit

Name - Southern Magnolia, Bullbay

(Magnolia grandiflora L.)

Family - Magnoliaceae

Habitat - Primarily bottomland forests and mesic upland woodlands. Widely planted as a landscape tree.

Description - Native evergreen tree 60-80 feet in height, simple leaves are alternately arranged, elliptic to oval, entire margins, dark shiny green above, rusty brown pubescent on lower surface and to 8 inches in length.

Flower - White or creamy white, fragrant, to 8 inches across. Fruit is cone-like, producing red berries in autumn that hang from silken threads before dropping.

Pictures - Florida Hickory leaf, Florida hickory nut

Name - Scrub Hickory, Florida Hickory

(Carya floridana Sarg.)

Family - Juglandaceae (Walnut family)

Habitat - Sandhill scrub, endemic to Florida.

Description - Native small tree or large shrub 10 to 20 feet in height usually with multiple trunks and spreading crown.

Alternate pinnately compound leaves green to yellowish-green, 5 - 8 inches long with 3 - 7  lanceolate to elliptic leaflets with toothed margins, lighter on the bottom surface. New growth twigs are covered with rust colored hairs.

Flowers are small greenish and inconspicuous, fruit is a hard shelled brown nut up to 1 1/2 inches.

Pictures - Water Hickory leaf, bark, flowering catkins

Name - Water Hickory, Swamp Hickory, Bitter Pecan

(Carya aquatica (Michx. f.)Nutt.)

Family - Juglandaceae (Walnut Family)

Habitat - Bottomland forest, floodplains of rivers, seasonally inundated areas

Description - Native tree with a large straight trunk to 100 feet tall and 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 feet in diameter. Leaves pinnately compound with 9-13 leaflets, lance shaped, pointed tips, slightly curved.

Pictures - Persimmon tree, Persimmon flowers, Persimmon fruit and leaf

Name - American Persimmon, Common Persimmon

(Diospyros virginiana L.)

Family - Ebenaceae

Habitat - Found in a variety of habitats from the wet soils of mixed bottomland forests and swamps to dry uplands throughout Florida.

Description - Native tree with a trunk to 24 inches in diameter and to 70 feet tall. Leaves are alternate, ovate to elliptical, shiny green above and light green below, young leaves are pubescent underneath, older leaves often have black spots on upper surface, turning yellow to orange in fall.   

Flower - Campulate (bell shaped), a creamy white color in spring, followed by round to slightly flattened berries 1 - 3 inches across, reddish-orange when mature with flat seeds.

Picture - Gopher Apple in bloom

Name - Gopher apple, Ground-Oak

(Licania michauxii Prance)

Family - Chrysobalanaceae

Habitat - Scrub, Sandhill, Pine flatwoods

Description - Native perennial, shrub, sub-shrub 3 to 12 inches in height. Stout, underground stems (rhizomes) from which it produces slender aerial shoots. The oblong stiff leaves are 1-4 inches long, 1-11/2 inches wide, lime green in color and have an oblong spatulate shape. The underside of these leaves are glabrous or finely pubescent, margins are shallowly undulate to entire.

Flower - Inconspicuous, green flowers in summer and are followed by purplish-brown ellipsoid drupes that are 1/2 to 1 inches long. Important food source for the Gopher Tortoise and many other animals.

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