WILDLIFE

Unfortunately, lichens are alien to most people. Have you ever wondered what those colorful splotches are that you can find on the bark of plants or even on the surface

Red Mulberry is a native deciduous tree that grows to be 40 feet tall and occurs most commonly in mesic (moist) hammocks and floodplains in Florida. At the ELC one

Conocarpus erectus is a common medium-sized tropical tree on the ELC campus. Despite its other common name “buttonwood mangrove”, it is a so-called mangrove-associate, that can most typically be found

When we talk about pollinator gardens, too often people refer to only two kinds of insects: butterflies and/or bees. The latter is furthermore mostly restricted to the ubiquitous European honeybee

As a typical case of mistaken identity, there are two different species of cacti native to Central Florida that share the same common name, and both are mostly simply referred

Invasive plants are one of the biggest threats to biological diversity worldwide and pose increasing problems for land managers (or gardeners) when it comes to sustaining wildlife and our natural

Before Florida became a state in 1845, 20.3 million acres of its land was covered with wetlands. More than half of these natural water filters are lost today due to

One of the more common (and one of the most ornamental) plants on the impoundment dike that we saw is Sea Ox-eye Daisy (Borrichia frutescens.) This long-lived perennial shrub grows

As an ancient sand dune, this special Florida desert evolved 3 million years ago in the late Pleistocene epoch when most of the state was part of the ocean, which

Most members of the order Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) are host specific, which means they are dependent on one very specific type of plant to finish their reproductive cycle. The

One of the most common plants you come across at the edge of mesic deciduous forests, disturbed sites and dry uplands where fire is rare or has been suppressed for

Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera) is a native shrub to small tree that commonly occurs in most habitat types in Florida, from freshwater wetlands to scrub. In the landscape it tends