Red Florida Wildflowers

Gallery 1 - Red Galleries 1 2 3

The red wildflower galleries include red, pink, & orange native & exotic wildflowers.

Click pictures to see full sized

Picture - Scarlet Milkweed flowers

Name - Scarlet Milkweed, Bloodflower

(Asclepias curassavica L.) 

Family - Apocynaceae

Habitat - Pasturelands, ruderal.

Description - Not Native. Perennial sub-shrub, 3 to 4 feet tall. Naturalized in central and south Florida. Often grows with pairs of symmetrically arranged stems, leaves are alternate, narrowly oblong to lanceolate, 4 - 8 inches long with entire margins and parallel venation.   

Flower - Clusters of brilliant orange and red flowers, attractive to butterflies which are immune to its toxins.

Picture - Blanket Flower

Name - Firewheel, Blanket Flower

(Gaillardia pulchella)

Family - Asteraceae

Habitat - Dry sites, Dry Prairie, Flatwoods.

Description - Native, annual or perennial. Subshrub 12 to 24 inches, clump forming, usually wider than tall. Hairy velvety textured stems and alternate oblanceolate to spatulate leaf with serrate margin, 4-8 inches long.

Flower - Variable yellow, orange and red, 2-3 inches across in summer and fall.

Picture - Silky Sesban with flower and seed pods.

Name - Silky Sesban

(Sesbania sericea (Willd) D.C.)

Family - Fabaceae

Habitat -  Margins of fresh water marshes, ponds, lakes, river and creek banks, other moist sites.

Description - Introduced annual or perennial shrub, subshrub, height 6 feet. Leaves alternate, pinnately compound, leaflets have pointed tips.

Flower- Yellow to orange, 1-1/2 inch. Fruit is a long, thin seed pod,
6 in. or more.

Pictures - Turkscap Mallow plant, flower detail

Name - Turkscap Mallow, Mazapan

(Malvaviscus penduliflorus DC.)

Family - Malvaceae

Habitat - Ruderal, Old home sites, roadsides

Description - Not native, introduced from South America. Shrub to 10 feet tall, variable leaf forms alternately arranged. Leaves may be oval, cordate or lobed, hirsute or glabrous. Margins dentate or smooth, yellowish green to deep green in color. Habit of growth can become vine like, especially when grown in shade.

Flower - Pendent or semi-erect red tubular flower that never opens fully, protruding stamen.

Picture - Tropical Sage with inset of flower detail

Name - Tropical Sage, Scarlet Sage

(Salvia coccinea)

Family - Lamiaceae

Habitat - Hammocks on calcareous soils, Shell mounds

Description - Perennial, Subshrub, Forb/Herb to 3 feet. Leaves ovate to cordate, margin crenate. Stems square, hairy.

Flower- Bright red and tubular, 1 1/4 inch, 2 lipped; upper lip 2 lobed, lower lip 3 lobed with protruding stamens and style, whorled in long clusters.

Picture - Scarlet Ladies Tresses flowers

Name - Scarlet Ladies' Tresses, Leafless Beaked Orchid

(Sacoila lanceolata)

Family - Orchidaceae

Habitat - Moist to dry open flatwoods, Pastures, Roadsides

Description - Native, Threatened. Herb, terrestrial orchid, no leaves present at flowering. Basil leaves, elliptic to lanceolate appearing after flower in spring.

Flower - Coral to Orange-Red with pale red to white lip, 9 - 50 clustered on 3 foot or taller inflorescences.

Pictures - Coral Bean flower, flower detail, Coral Bean leaf detail.

Name - Cherokee Bean, Coral Bean

(Erythrina herbacea L.)

Family - Fabaceae

Habitat - Pineland clearings, Coastal Hammocks

Description - Native. Perennial Tree, shrub, sub-shrub to 16 feet in height. Leaves 7-8 inches long, alternate, compound with 3 ovate to cordate (arrowhead) shaped leaflets.

Flower - Brilliant red, tubular to 2 1/2 inches long, borne on tall racemes in late spring, early summer. Fruit is a narrow pod to about 8 inches, constricted around the bright red seeds inside.

Picture - Orange Milkwort plant, flower close-up.

Name - Orange Milkwort, Candy Weed

(Polygala lutea L.)

Family - Polygalaceae

Habitat - Moist sandy soils in pinelands, wet prairie. Numerous tiny orange flowers in dense clusters, 3/4 inch diameter and 1 to 2 inches long.

Description - Biennial, Forb/herb. 6 to 12 inches high.

Pictures - Marsh Pink

Name - Largeflower Rosegentian, Marsh Pink

(Sabatia grandiflora)

Family - Gentianaceae

Habitat - Wet prairie, Wet Pineland, margins of freshwater marshes.

Description - Native annual herb to 3 feet. Linear to filiform leaves 1 1/2 to nearly 4 inches long

Flower - Bright pink, 1 1/4 - 2 inches across, usually solitary. Marsh pink often forms small colonies giving the appearance of a multiple flowered single plant.

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