Native Plants in Florida, Introduction

NATIVE AQUATIC and WETLAND PLANTS in FLORIDA
An Introduction

(N.B. If you already know the following introductory information and just want to see our listing of plant information and photos, go to this list of 394 species.)

THERE ARE MANY THOUSANDS OF SPECIES OF PLANTS in the United States, with more than 4,000 species identified and known to be in Florida. Most plants in Florida are "good" plants--they are native and non-invasive; they have evolved into their own ecological niches. Native plants provide food and shelter to animals of all sorts, stability to shorelines and fields, and visual pleasure to those of us lucky enough to live here.

Because a native plant species usually does not take over an area, there is biodiversity - a great number of species growing in balance and living together in harmony. Florida is famous for its biodiversity. There is great diversity because each native species is constrained in its growth by natural factors. Such natural factors include 1) competition with other native species, 2) native diseases, 3) predation by feeding native insects and other animals, 4) climate, 5) water level fluctuation, and so on.

This web page focuses on Florida's aquatic and wetland plants.

Most plants in Florida's wild areas are native plants, including terrestrial species and aquatic/wetland species. Our state is home to hundreds of native aquatic and wetland plants that live in damp to wet soils, and some even more specialized plants that live entirely in, on, or under water: they include submersed plants, emersed plants (including grasses, sedges and rushes), and floating and floating-leaved plants. (Scientists and government people refer to most of them as aquatic macrophytes. Visit our parent web site for information and photos on a couple of hundred aquatic and wetland plants.)

NATIVE SUBMERSED PLANTS

tape grass
Vallisneria american sago pondweed
Potamogeton pectinatus Florida bladderwort
Utricularia floridana coontail
Ceratophyllum demersum

Submersed plants grow entirely or almost entirely underwater. Some submersed species produce flowers and are pollinated underwater or at the water surface (tapegrass, above). Some submersed species have branches and leaves that reach and spread across the water just below the surface (sago pondweed). Some produce flowers that float on the surface (fanwort). Some have flower stalks that emerge up to six inches above the water (water milfoils). Some are free-floating plants that live underwater (bladderwort). And some have several of these attributes, such as coontail, which is a submersed, free-floating plant that produces very tiny flowers that pollinate underwater (coontail).

Some of the environmental roles of submersed plants are listed here. Information and photos of all these and other submersed plants may be found here.

NATIVE EMERSED PLANTS

cat-tails
Typha species duck potato
Sagittaria lancifolia lemon bacopa
Bacopa caroliniana lake hygrophila
Hygrophila lacustris bur marigold
Bidens laevis

Emersed plants are plants that grow out of the water (or during low-water times, in exposed sediments). They are rooted to the bottom, but their stems, leaves and flowers are above the water. Some emersed plants have no particular stems - just leaves reaching for the sky (cattails). Some emersed plants are very large-leaved, with big spikes of flowers (the arrowheads and fire flag). Some are small plants, growing inches above the water (the bacopas). Some are viney, rooted in the mud but crawling across the water (the morning glories). Some are tall and leafy (the native lake hygrophila). And some can color a large prairie (bur marigold).

Environmental roles of emersed plants are listed here. Information and photos of all these and other emersed plants may be found here.

FREE-FLOATING AND FLOATING-LEAVED PLANTS

water meal
Wolffia columbiana small duckweed
Lemna valdiviana giant duckweed
Spirodela polyrhiza water lily
Nymphaea aquatica water shield
Brasenia schreberi American lotus
Nelumbo lutea

Floating and floating-leaved plants are those that may or may not be anchored to the sediment (they may be rooted to the bottom or may be free-floating), but they all have leaves that float on the water's surface. Florida has a number of native floating-leaved rooted plants, but, curiously, Nature gave us very few free-floating plants compared to the number of free-floating plants that exist in the world. As for free-floating, Florida's native plants include the world's smallest flowering plant (a duckweed called water meal); and two larger duckweeds (small duckweed and giant duckweed). (The free-floating plant, water hyacinth, on the other hand, is a non-native invasive plant in Florida and is considered "the worst aquatic weed in the world". It has invaded the waters of many countries from its native Brazil; it is pictured and discussed on the non-native plants page.) Among Florida's native floating-leaved plants (that are rooted to the bottom) are the waterlilies, spatterdock, American lotus, and water shield.

Environmental roles of free-floating and floating-leaved plants are listed here. Information and photos of all these and other floating and free-floating plants may be found here.

GRASSES, SEDGES, and RUSHES

maidencane
Panicum hemitomon Egyptian paspalidium
Paspalidium geminatum giant foxtail
Setaria magna saw-grass
Cladium jamaicense soft-stem bulrush
Scirpus validus soft rush
Juncus effusus

There are many native aquatic grasses, sedges and rushes in Florida. These are the multitudinous plants that look like giant grasses (and some of them are just that), or they look like leafless stems (and some are just that), or they look like Dr. Seuss plants (and some of them are remnants of plant groups that were prevalent when the dinosaurs roamed). Unfortunately, there are quite a few non-native invasive grasses, sedges and rushes in Florida. (Here's an introduction to invasive aquatic plants.) But among Florida's native giant grasses are sugarcane plume grass and giant foxtail. Shorter grasses, such as maidencane and knot-grass, grow in shallow marshes and lake margins and are extremely valuable to Florida's fisheries. Among the sedges are sawgrass (though this, the dominant plant in the Everglades, resembles a grass and is called "sawgrass", it's not a grass), and star-rush. Then there are the bulrushes and the true rushes of Florida, such as soft rush. (For more confusing information about common names, see this page of our web site.

The grasses, sedges and rushes produce prodigious quantities of seeds for birds and other animals, substrate for invertebrates and shelter for fish, as well as nesting and padding for birds and alligators. Information and photos of all these and other grasses, sedges and rushes may be found here.

WHEN "GOOD" PLANTS GO "BAD"
Native plants usually are not invasive. However, sometimes when a site becomes "disturbed", such as when construction has taken place, a ditch dug, or when natural water level fluctuations have been altered by man-made drainage, pumping systems, or dams, then certain native plants will act invasively. Our native cattails (Typha species) are famous for quickly filling in wet areas that have been disturbed or altered. They are often the dominant plant in man-made ponds and ditches. In the Everglades, for example, cattails are crowding out the desirable saw grass, which produces much food and shelter for native Everglades animals. It is believed that man-made alterations in water level fluctuations has somehow given a growth advantage to the cattail over saw grass.

INVASIVE PLANTS
Unfortunately, almost every place on earth is being invaded by plants from other places. Our coontail is invading South Africa. Sri Lanka's hydrilla is invading here. Our tapegrass is invading Australia. Burma's reed is invading here. Learn more about the perils caused by invasive plants here.

More than 150 native aquatic and wetland plants are pictured
here on our sister web site.

The Creators

This page was authored by Vic Ramey.
Data is from the APIRS database.
Photography and graphics are by Ann Murray, Sara Reinhart and Vic Ramey.

For DEP, this page was reviewed by Jeff Schardt and Judy Ludlow.

Main Index

A collaboration of the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida, and the Invasive Plant Management Section of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.


tape grass Vallisneria american	sago pondweed Potamogeton pectinatus	Florida bladderwort Utricularia floridana	coontail Ceratophyllum demersum


cat-tails Typha species	duck potato Sagittaria lancifolia	lemon bacopa Bacopa caroliniana	lake hygrophila Hygrophila lacustris	bur marigold Bidens laevis


water meal Wolffia columbiana	small duckweed Lemna valdiviana	giant duckweed Spirodela polyrhiza	water lily Nymphaea aquatica	water shield Brasenia schreberi	American lotus Nelumbo lutea


maidencane Panicum hemitomon	Egyptian paspalidium Paspalidium geminatum	giant foxtail Setaria magna	saw-grass Cladium jamaicense	soft-stem bulrush Scirpus validus	soft rush Juncus effusus