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Pensacola Tallahassee Jacksonville Orlando Tampa St. Petersburg West Palm Beach Ft. Lauderdale Miami Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) Temperate climates cool wet summers moderate dry summers warm dry summers warm humid summers tropical Dry climates grasslands desert Highlands Ice climates Snow climates cool summers moderate summers warm summers Climate Regimes Florida rosemary ( Ceratiola ericoides ) Variable leaf sunflower (Helianthus heterophyllus) Florida anise tree (Illicium floridanum) Hooded pitcherplant (Sarracenia minor) American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) Florida rosemary (Ceratiola ericoides) Butterfly orchid (Encyclia tampensis) Jamaican capertree (Capparis cynophallophora) 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. In addition to climatic forces, the diversity and distribution of plants in Florida is influenced by variations in topography, soils, geology, rainfall amounts and seasonality, and fire regimes and frequency. These factors, in turn, shape 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. 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). 100 - 129 130 - 159 160 or more Number of Families Rubiaceae (2%) Convolvulaceae (2%) Malvaceae (2%) Lamiaceae (3%) Euphorbiaceae (3%) Orchidaceae (3%) Cyperaceae (6%) Fabaceae (7%) Asteraceae (10%) Poaceae (10%) Other (233 families) Top Ten Plant Families Plant Family Diversity 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). Southern mixed hardwood forest Transition from southern mixed hardwood to temperate broadleaf evergreen forest Temperate broadleaf evergreen forest Transition from temperate broadleaf evergreen to tropical forest Transition from tropical to temperate broadleaf evergreen forest Tropical forest Broadleaf Forest Zones Range Limits of Selected Temperate & Tropical Tree Species increasing temperate species increasing tropical species Plant Richness Alaska Hawaii Number of Species 1,000–1,900 1,901–2,800 2,801–3,700 3,701–4,600 5,421 Rare Plant Species (GH-G3) Alaska Hawaii Number of Species 201– 400 1–200 401–600 978 1,664 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 edible or food crops, plants with medicinal or curative properties, plants used for creating clothing, textiles, and 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. Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens) frond (top), berries (bottom) Ethnobotany Coontie (Zamia pumila) root bisected to show texture 6% 2% 3% 25% 20% 44% GH G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 No Rank Assigned Florida Plants 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% Species Subspecies 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 Florida Plants by Global Rarity Rank About 10% of Florida’s plant species are considered rare (GH-G3). (full species only; see page 142 for rank explanations) Gary Knight Pete Diamond Kim Gulledge Wunderlin, NatureServe, FNAI NatureServe, FNAI NatureServe, FNAI Ann F. Johnson Michael Jenkins Pete Diamond Sherry Miller Robin Kennedy Brenda Herring Patricia Stampe Gary Knight Data adapted from Koeppen-Geiger climate classification, Strahler, 1960 Grellar, 1980 Plants: Overview Plants: Overview II ELEMENTS OF BIODIVERSITY – PLANTS 40 41
