No one knows who Barbara is, but we can surely admire her buttons! A member of the aster family, Grassleaf Barbara’s buttons (Marshallia graminifolia) is a fragrant wildflower with showy, solitary blooms that have a tassled, button-like appearance. Each flower has many whitish-pink to pale lavender disk florets arranged in a concentric circle — and no ray florets. It blooms summer through fall and like most Asters, attracts a plethora of pollinators.
What’s in a name? Well, if it’s sandbog deathcamas, everything is in the name! Sandbog deathcamas (Zigadenus glaberrimus) is a poisonous wildflower native to wet flatwoods and prairies in the Panhandle. Its many star-shaped flowers are cream-colored with greenish-gold glands at the base of their petals. It blooms summer through fall (it’s blooming now!) and attracts bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Don’t forget pineland heliotrope (Euploca polyphylla) if you’re looking for year-round blooms! This member of the forget-me-not family is a Florida endemic and is adaptable to a variety of conditions. Its small white or yellow flowers attract many pollinators.
Pink milkweed is an erect, herbaceous perennial wildflower with showy pink flowers. It occurs naturally in floodplain swamps, hydric hammocks, wet pine flatwoods and marshes. It typically blooms in summer and attracts many pollinators. It is a larval host plant for Monarch, Queen and Soldier butterfly caterpillars.
Comfortroot, also known as pineland hibiscus, is a large perennial wildflower with showy cream-colored blooms. It occurs naturally in wet to mesic pinelands, and along the edges of savannas, bogs and roadside ditches. It typically blooms late spring through fall and attracts pollinators, specifically bees. The common name comfortroot may allude to the belief that the plant’s mucilaginous roots has soothing properties.
Spotted water hemlock is a robust herbaceous perennial with a bad reputation of being one of the most toxic plants known to man. It occurs naturally in freshwater swamps, marshes and floodplains, and along riverbanks and roadside ditches. It blooms spring through fall, attracting many species of bees, wasps and butterflies. It is a larval host plant for the black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes).