Florida Native Plant Haiku, Gallberry (aka Inkberry), Ilex glabra for Monday

Gallberry-Inkberry, Ilex glabra

Gallberry (aka Inkberry) Ilex glabra by Kevin Songer

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munch inkberry drupes

old turkey, possum and deer sport

smeared purple lips

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Gallberry is also known as inkberry, and its dark black juice filled berries have been used by peoples over generations as ink. Birds and wildlife relish the berries for forage. Early settlers and indigenous peoples have made a tea similar to yaupon tea from gallberry’s leaves (see Appalachian tea). Interestingly, gallbladder is a holly like yaupon however gallberry’s leaves do not contain the significant amount of caffeine that yaupon leaves possess. Gallberry’s flowers attract bees from afar. Gallberry honey is highly prized by many.

Saturday Wildflower Poetry, Catesby Lily Haiku

Weekend Catesby Lily Short Verse

Pineland lily, Lilium catesbaei, Kevin Songer

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flames in the flatwoods
fire in the wiregrass
wet soil quenches not
...

Damp soil pine flatwoods are such a special place and this is where I usually see Catesby lily growing en masse.  Catesby lily flower is one of the largest lily flowers native to North America.  Brilliant hues of orange, yellow and red attract a number of pollinators to the top of stems reaching up above wiregrass below.  Pineland lily is truly an amazing Florida native wildflower.

Florida Haiku, Senryu Wildflower Poetry, Railroad Vine

Florida Wildflower Poetry, Railroad Vine, Kevin Songer

Railroad Vine
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bright nectar filled cups

moths, wasps, ants and bees seek

oceanfront diner

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Railroad vine, Ipomoea pes-caprae is also known as 'beach morning glory' and 'goat's foot', the latter name deriving from goat-foot shaped leaves on the vine.

Salt tolerant railroad vine is an amazing native wildflower growing in primary dunes, often straight down the beach towards the surf.  Look closely and you may see thousands of pollinators buzzing about railroad vine's luminescent purple flowers.  This vine is an important beach-side insect, butterfly, small mammal and bird food source.

Railroad vine's common name probably arose from the vine's long straight reaches, with leaves and flowers jutting out to each side much like a long straight run of railroad tracks, helping stabilize primary and beachfront sand dunes.  Drought and salt tolerant, this native wildflower makes a great seashore landscape plant, just give the vine plenty of room to grow!

Florida Short Poetry, Wildflowers and Haiku

Sea beans
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prickly liana
spiny pods nest lustrous beans,
wait for sea pearls' fall
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Gray Nickerbean, Caesalpina bonduc,
Kevin Songer Florida Nature Artist

Rare Miami Blue and Nickerbean Blue butterfly larvae feed heavily of the foliage of Gray Nickerbean whose seed pods are as outrageously beautiful as the lustrous seeds nested inside.  The maritime loving Gray Nickerbean liana aggressively grows into a rambling, impenetrable hedge before flowering and dropping its gray beans onto the seashore.  With the seasons, tides and sargassum flotsam, Gray Nickerbeans travel around the world, carried hence by La Mar.  Sea Beans, also know as Sea Pearls have been used by peoples for jewelry, medicine and artisan wood inlays for millennia. 

Climbing aster, Symphyotrichum carolinanum, Florida Wildflower Poetry

Climbing aster, Symphyotrichum spp.

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lilac stars climb
wreathed through cypress, bag of
yarn not twisted more
...

Climbing aster can be reliably found in full lush bloom, even in the driest and hottest of summer droughts.  This shrubby vine produces masses amounts of highly fragrant luminous purple and mauve flowers. Once the vines start weaving through trees they form an almost impenetrable barrier.  When no other summer drought flowers can be found, climbing aster is there to feed hungry monarch butterflies.