A Polka-Dot Wasp Moth (Syntomeida epilais) and a Bumble Bee on Garberia (Garberia heterophylla). Garberia is an old-growth Florida native shrub that is threatened with extinction. Garberia is currently on the list of Threatened and Endangered Plants of Florida. If you want to see it in bloom head to the Seminole State Forest in Lake County and hike the horse trails. November is prime Garberia blooms.
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This low shrub is native to Florida and attains a height of 4 to 8 feet. It is also known as Garberia fruticosa. Garberia has dull grayish, viscid (sticky) foliage that is quite distinctive. The obovate leaves are alternately arranged on the stems and are held vertically.
Garberia's showy, late season flowers appear in terminal corymbs of lavender pink heads and are followed by small inconspicuous fruits; the fruits are achenes. Flowers literally cover the plant.
The reasons for Garberia's threatened status is that it is native to the sand ridges and hills of central and northeast peninsular Florida. Most of these ridges have been bulldozed for development.
We've preserved a stand of these scarce plants at our lake house in east Central Florida and they have come into full bloom despite the harsh fall in which we received less than 1/25th of our normal rainfall. Unfortunately there are few other stands remaining in our area and as the plant only blooms for a couple weeks in fall it is unlikely that pollination much less seed dispersal and offspring will occur.
There is no impetus for conservation in Florida as the Governor's Office and both houses of the Legislature are controlled by pro-growth Republicans who in large part do not believe in conservation nor the science of climate change.
The main focus of Florida's Republican government has been economic development and expansion of exurbs at any cost.
The reality of that expansion is that the things that were so special about Florida are being lost and replaced with concrete, suburbs, and generic corporate crap (strip malls) from the Atlantic to the Gulf and everywhere between.
A Thread-Waisted Wasp (Ammophila procera) feasting on the fleeting Garberia blooms.
A little Skipper making a visit to the Garberia plants.
Below: Lookalikes, but a completely different plant, Marsh American-Aster (Symphyotrichum elliottii) enjoys a much wider distribution from Louisiana to Virginia and grows well in disturbed ground like ditches, swales, and roadsides.
Marsh American-Aster grows to 9 feet (3 m) in Florida and are easily recognizable in Fall-Winter by their large clusters of showy blooms
Below, my index finger for scale.
