(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.

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.)

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.

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

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.

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.

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.