Pinus Palustris

Kingdom:Plantae

Division:Pinophyta

Class:Pinopsida

Order:Pinales

Family:Pinaceae

Genus:Pinus

Pinus Palustris also known as the longleaf pine is a common pine found in Florida. Everywhere you look you can catch a glimpse of this tall pine. This pine towers to a height of about 98 to 110 feet with a diameter close to 27 inches. The leaves of this longleaf pine are unique long dark green needles which grow in groups of three. These pines are very slow growing and can take up to 150 years before the pine is fully grown. This is the reason why pines are becoming somewhat threatened. These pines are being cut down and new ones are being planted, but the time it takes for a pine to fully mature is making the process difficult. An interesting fact about this tree is during it's seedling phase, the pine does not look like a tree, but a grass. What makes it more interesting is that if a fire were to burn the grass of the seedlings the pine would still grow because it only burns the needles of the pine not the actual bud. In older times the needles of the pine were used to make baskets and roots of these pines after awhile become fat lighter.

Flowers!

Kingdom: Plantae
Angiosperms

Eudicots

Asterids

Order: Lamiales

Family: Plantaginaceae

Genus: Penstemon

Species: P. strictus

Geographic Range: United States

Habitat: It is found in the woods with scrub oak, or in open areas with pine trees. It is also sometimes associated with sagebrush.

Physical Description: This species is a perennial with a few stems rising nearly straight up from a thick crown. The leaves are long and narrow and smooth, sometimes even downy. The flowers tend to be shades of purple and pink.

Reproduction: This plant reproduces though seeds which is a type of synthetic cloning.

Cool facts: The word "penstemon" if derived from the Greek "pente" ("five") and "stemon" ("thread"). Penstemons are so named because one of their five stamens, i.e. thread-like structures, is sterile and visually distinctly different from the others.

Serenoa Repens

Kingdom:Plantae

Order:Arecales

Family:Arecacaea

Genus:Serenoa

Serenoa Repens commonly known as the saw palmetto are native to Florida. The palms are relatively small, but grow in large numbers. These clumps are thick in density and are found for the majority in sandy regions or underneath pine woods. The Saw palmetto is comprised of lealets in the shape of a fan. The name saw palm comes from the bare petioles, however along the edges are sharp teeth thus a common name saw palmetto was given. The fans are made of approximately 20 leaflets. Some interesting facts about this palm are the fruit in which are produced. The fruits are enriched with things such as phytoserols and fatty acids making the extracts benefical to medical treatments. These palms don't rely on soil pH or texture and can with stand heavy droughts making it a long lived palm.

Stick bugs

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Superorder: Exopterygota
Order:Phasmatodea

Geographic Range: North America, Australia, Southeast Asia, and islands in the South Pacific

Habitat: Forests, parks, recreation sites; basically wherever there are oaks and hardwood trees.

Physical Description: These insects resemble sticks or leaves with their cylindrical bodies, which is their natural camouflage. They can range from 1 inch to 1 foot in length. Some have very narrow wings. They are usually green, brown, or yellow.

Reproduction: Reproduction usually occurs sexually, although some females do not need to mate in order to produce eggs - if eggs hatch that were not fertilized, all of those eggs will be female.

Cool facts: They are solitary and are infrequently encountered because of their secretive nature. When disturbed, they play dead and fall to blend in with their backgrounds.

Berlandiera Pumila

Kingdom	Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision	Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass	Asteridae
Order	Asterales
Family	Asteraceae – Aster family
Genus	Berlandiera DC. – greeneyes
Species	Berlandiera pumila (Michx.) Nutt. – soft greeneyes
Variety	Berlandiera pumila (Michx.) Nutt. var. pumila – soft greeneyes

Berlandiera pumila also known as "soft green eyes" can be found all over the U.S. from Texas east to Florida and as far north as North Carolina. It grows in dry pinelands, open fields, and sandhills producing a chocolate like scent. Berlandiera pumila has a clump of sturdy, upright, light green stems with widely spaced, 3" long, light green leaves. The stems are topped from April-September with clusters of 2" yellow daisies.

Grass Spider

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Arachnida (Arachnids)

Order Araneae (Spiders)

Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)

No Taxon (Entelegynes )

Family Agelenidae (Funnel-Web Spiders)

Genus Agelenopsis (Grass Spiders)

Found throughout the United States and Canada grass spiders can be seen from spring to fall on their tunnel like webs in plants and shrubs. These non-aggressive spiders spend most of their time waiting for flies and other insects to get tangled in their webs. They are fairly easily identifiable, a small brown spider with longitudinal striping on their legs. Male grass spiders usually spend most of their adult life wandering in search of a mate. Shortly after mating, the male often dies. Females however, do not wander from the web, and if they do, it is typically to find a new location to build the next web. They spend most of their time capturing and eating prey, building up their strength to mate and lay eggs, and wait for males to wander by and find them. In the fall, after mating, the females will deposit a disc-shaped egg sac in a crevice, and then die - often still clinging to the egg sac.

Peat moss (Sphangnum)

Kingdom:Plantae

Phylum:Bryophyta

Class:Sphagnopsida

Subclass:Sphagnidae

Order:Sphagnales

Family:Sphagnaceae

Genus:Sphagnum

Individual peat moss plants consist of a main stem, with tightly arranged clusters of branch fascicles usually consisting of two or three spreading branches and two to four hanging branches. The top of the plant, or capitulum, has compact clusters of young branches. Along the stem are scattered leaves of various shape, named stem leaves; the shape varies according to species. The leaves consist of two kinds of cell; small, green, living cells (chlorophyllose cells), and large, clear, structural, dead cells (hyaline cells). The latter have the large water-holding capacity.

Interesting Fact: Some species can hold up to20 times their dry weight in water!