Download Plants: Overview - Florida Natural Areas Inventory

Patricia Stampe
ELEMENTS OF BIODIVERSITY – PLANTS
Plants: Overview
40
Jacksonville
Ann F. Johnson
Variable leaf sunflower
(Helianthus heterophyllus)
American beautyberry
(Callicarpa americana)
Alaska
Number of Species
Number of Species
1,000–1,900
1,901–2,800
2,801–3,700
3,701–4,600
5,421
Southern mixed hardwood forest
Transition from southern mixed hardwood
to temperate broadleaf evergreen forest
Michael Jenkins
1–200
201– 400
401– 600
978
1,664
NatureServe, FNAI
NatureServe, FNAI
Temperate broadleaf evergreen forest
Transition from temperate broadleaf
evergreen to tropical forest
Transition from tropical to temperate
broadleaf evergreen forest
Florida Plants
Top Ten Plant Families
Poaceae (10%)
SpeciesSubspecies
Plants Tracked by FNAI
416
38
Number of Federally Listed Species
52
10
(Threatened or Endangered)
Number of State Listed Species
500
31
(Threatened or Endangered)
Wunderlin, NatureServe, FNAI
Asteraceae (10%)
Fabaceae (7%)
Orchidaceae (3%)
Euphorbiaceae (3%)
Lamiaceae (3%)
Florida Plants by
Global Rarity Rank
25%
2%
44%
3%
6%
20%
About 10% of Florida’s plant species
are considered rare (GH-G3).
(full species only; see page 142 for rank explanations)
Malvaceae (2%)
Convolvulaceae (2%)
Rubiaceae (2%)
GH
G1
Florida rosemary
(Ceratiola ericoides)
Tropical forest
Number of Plant Species in Florida
3,936
Native Species
2,609
Exotic Species
1,327
Invasive Exotic Species
137
Number of Plant Species in the U.S.
16,306
Percentage of U.S. Plant Species found in Florida
24%
Cyperaceae (6%)
Orlando
G2
G3
G4
G5
No Rank Assigned
Wunderlin, NatureServe, FNAI
Florida anise tree
(Illicium floridanum)
Tampa
Pete Diamond
Other
(233 families)
Hooded pitcherplant
(Sarracenia minor)
Broadleaf Forest Zones
Hawaii
St. Petersburg
Temperate and Tropical Influences
Florida is uniquely situated between temperate and tropical
climate regimes. These temperate and tropical influences
contribute to Florida’s botanical diversity and to the
distribution of plant species within the state. The panhandle
region supports an array of temperate species—among them
bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) and river birch (Betula
nigra)—growing at the southern extreme of their natural
range. In southern Florida, and extending northward along
mild coastal areas, many tropical plant species reach their
northern range limits, including Jamaican capertree (Capparis
cynophallophora) and gumbo limbo (Bursera simaruba).
West Palm
Beach
Butterfly orchid
(Encyclia tampensis)
Ft. Lauderdale
Sherry Miller
Hawaii
Gary Knight
Alaska
Miami
Jamaican capertree
(Capparis cynophallophora)
Ethnobotany
Grellar, 1980
Range Limits of Selected
Temperate & Tropical Tree Species
igh
t
d
on
am
Di
Pe
te
increasing
temperate species
Bloodroot
(Sanguinaria
canadensis)
Kim Gulledge
increasing
tropical species
Climate Regimes
Temperate climates
Ice climates
Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens)
frond (top), berries (bottom)
Dry climates
cool wet summers
grasslands
cool summers
moderate dry summers
desert
moderate summers
warm dry summers
warm summers
warm humid summers
Snow climates
Robin Kennedy
Florida’s diverse flora also
includes numerous plants
with ethnobotanical value.
These are species for which
humans (typically indigenous
people) have developed
practical uses in their everyday
lives. Among these are
Coontie
edible or food crops, plants
(Zamia pumila)
with medicinal or curative
root bisected to
properties, plants used for
creating clothing, textiles, and show texture
textile dyes, as well as plants
that have been important in
rituals, ceremonies, and social
life. Estimates are that more
than one-third of Florida’s
native plants had some
ethnobotanical value to its Native American inhabitants. Seminole
Indians traditionally used the root starch from coontie (Zamia pumila)
to make a flour for “Seminole bread.” Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens)
is considered one of the most useful plants in Florida, providing food,
fiber, medicine, roofing thatch, oil, and wax. Doctors today use an
extract from the fruit in treating prostate cancer.
Kn
These natural communities are populated by many species
common to the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains. Numerous
disjunct, relict, and endemic plant species also contribute to
Florida’s overall plant diversity. Examples of disjunct species
include camphor daisy (Rayjacksonia phyllocephala) from
Texas, Miccosukee gooseberry (Ribes echinellum) from South
Carolina, and threadleaf sundew (Drosera filiformis) from
North Carolina. The topography and moist microclimates of
ravines in the Florida panhandle provide refuge for several
relict plant species that occur nowhere else in the world,
notably the Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia). Many localized
areas of Florida have high concentrations of endemic plant
species. The central ridge of Florida is rich with endemic
plants, such as scrub oak (Quercus inopina), due to its unique
geological history and semi-arid scrub habitat. Many of
Florida’s natural communities, both wetlands and uplands,
are pyrogenic. The plants that populate these fire-prone
communities have adapted to natural fires for thousands of
years. Some species are even dependent upon periodic fires
for their survival. The cones of sand pine (Pinus clausa) only
release their seeds when exposed to fire. Another of the
state’s most fire-adapted—and fire-dependent—species is
wiregrass (Aristida stricta).
(GH-G3)
ry
In addition to climatic
Plant Family Diversity
forces, the diversity and
distribution of plants in
Florida is influenced by
variations in topography,
soils, geology, rainfall
amounts and seasonality,
Number
of Families
and fire regimes and
100 - 129
frequency. These
130 - 159
factors, in turn, shape
160 or more
Florida’s diverse natural
communities, from upland hardwood forests and wet
prairies in the panhandle, to pine rocklands and scrub in the
peninsula, and their unique suite of species.
Tallahassee
Brenda Herring
F
lorida is home to a unique and diverse assemblage of
plant species. Florida has the highest number of plant
families and the sixth highest native species richness in the
United States, with 243 plant families and approximately
2,600 species. Nearly half of these species belong to 10
large plant families, including the grass, aster, pea, and the
sedge families. Florida also stands out among U.S. states for
certain groups of species including carnivorous plants, ferns,
and orchids. Florida supports one of the largest number
of carnivorous plant species, nearly one-half of the orchid
species found in North America, and the highest number
of fern species in the continental United States. Florida’s
temperate to subtropical climate also supports a variety
of non-native plants from South America and the Old
World tropics. Today, an estimated 40% of plant species in
Florida (approximately 3,900 species) are naturalized exotic
species, and 3% are considered invasive and threaten the
biodiversity of natural areas within the state.
Pensacola
Rare Plant Species
Plant Richness
Ga
II
Highlands
tropical
Data adapted from Koeppen-Geiger climate classification, Strahler, 1960
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