April 29 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Saddle Blanket Scrub Preserve, Polk County
This field trip is sold out. Please contact Rose at RKinane@FlaWildflowers.org to be added to the waiting list.
Photo: LW Ridge (CC BY-NC)
Join the Florida Wildflower Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and the Florida Native Plant Society on Tuesday, April 29 at 9:00am for an exclusive hike through Saddle Blanket Scrub Preserve.
Usually closed to the public, Saddle Blanket Scrub Preserve spans 829 acres along the western edge of the Lake Wales Ridge in southern Polk County. It contains Florida scrub habitat that supports a diverse array of rare and endemic species. Once slated for development as a water theme park called “Desert Gardens Natural Park,” the preserve is now managed primarily through prescribed fire and invasive species control to maintain its ecological integrity.
Sand pine (Pinus clausa) dominates the overstory while the midstory consists of shrubby evergreen oaks such as Sand live oak (Quercus geminata), Myrtle oak (Quercus myrtifolia), Chapman oak (Quercus chapmanii), and Inopina oak (Quercus inopina). Other species that commonly occur here include Scrub hickory (Carya floridana), Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), Scrub palmetto (Sabal etonia), Rusty lyonia (Lyonia ferruginea) and Florida rosemary (Ceratiola ericoides). Tarflower (Bejaria racemosa), Garberia (Garberia heterophylla), Buckthorn (Sideroxylon tenax), and Palafoxia (Palafoxia feayi) are also encountered frequently and are characteristic of scrub.
In addition to the relatively common scrub species listed above, the preserve supports populations of 17 rare plant species, including Avon Park rattlebox (Crotalaria avonensis), a state- and federally listed endangered species endemic to the Lake Wales Ridge.
The Nature Conservancy will shuttle people out to the hike location. Participants should come prepared to hike in sugar sand. We will most likely stay somewhat along the service roads but participants might go into the scrub to look at some rare plants.
Registration is free for Florida Wildflower Foundation members and $10 for nonmembers. All proceeds from this trip will be donated to The Nature Conservancy Florida.