Create Your Own Tree Walk
Okay, here’s the deal…I love trees. I think they are really cool, and overlooked way too often. So, during this time of quarantine, I wanted to create an activity you can do at home to help you learn… Read More
Tag: tree identification
The Little Oaks Part II
As promised in my “The Little Oaks Part I”, here we will explore two more species of shrubby oaks; these are little, I’m talking, like three feet max. The two species we will examine today are running oak… Read More
The Little Oaks – Part I
There are 26 species of oaks vouchered in Florida, 10 of which have been found in Pinellas County. While oaks are often known for being these massive trees, did you know we have four species of scrubby/shrubby oaks… Read More
What Kind of Mangrove Is That?
Mangrove trees are very important to Florida’s coastal ecosystems. We have three species of mangrove trees in the state: red, black and white, but there are over 50 species worldwide! Mangrove habitats provide many benefits to us and… Read More
A Maple Tree…Or Not?
In case you’ve missed it, I’ve been blogging about commonly confused tree species (and, well…commonly confuses species in general). Today’s comparison focuses on how to tell apart red maple (Acer rubrum) from sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). From a distance… Read More
Cherry Trees In Florida?
We are probably all familiar with cherries, the fruit we get to enjoy this time of year. But today I want to talk about the cherry trees we have here in Florida, which unfortunately aren’t the same ones… Read More
Could It Be A Brazilian Pepper-Tree?
As an educator I shouldn’t do this, but I’m going to assume most of you have heard about or are familiar with the Brazilian Pepper-Tree (Schinus terebinthifolius). This plant has a super bad reputation because of its very… Read More
Oh, BAY-be!
You’ve probably heard people refer to a tree as a “bay” at some point. There are many different types of “bay” trees, but today we are going to focus on how to tell a redbay (Persea borbonia) from… Read More
Exploring the Oaks
There are 26 species of oaks recorded in the state of Florida, so it’s not exactly an easy genus to conquer. In fact, upon doing a little exploring locally at Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center, we found… Read More
The Great Cypress Debate
Depending who you talk to there are two different species of cypress (Taxodium spp.) trees in Florida, the bald cypress (Taxodium disitichum) and pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens). When I took my dendrology class (the study of forest plants),… Read More