Florida Holly

Florida's Hollies

Florida has 11 natives species of Holly (Ilex). Hollies are found in almost every plant community from coastal scrub, tropical hammocks, pine flatwoods to river floodplains. The hollies are unusual in that they are either male or female. Male hollies are often overlooked as they can be confused with other alternately leaved woody plants. The flowers of some species such as Ilex glabra are important honey plants. The fruit of hollies are distinctive and often showy. When most people think of hollies they may automatically envision the evergreen American holly (I. opaca) with its red fruit and spiny leaves. This species is the ubiquitous "holly" of the Christmas holiday season. Every county in Florida has a species of holly, but the most wide spread of all the native species is dahoon holly (I. cassine) which is found throughout the state, even south into the Florida Keys. If dahoon holly is the most widespread, gallberry (Ilex glabra) is the most common as it is native to Florida's extensive pine flatwoods. This species along with several other groundcover species is adapted to the rather frequent ground fires that historically swept across Florida's pinelands during the summer thunderstorm season. This landscape of scattered pines with a dense groundcover including gallberry is one of the most common landscapes in Florida.

Seeing PINK? Not in Florida

Dorothy Baldwin zoo educator Jacksonville Zoological Gardens shares this information about Flamingos:

"I work at a major zoo here in the state of Florida and I have always been fascinated with these birds. I would like to point out, however, that flamingos are not native to North America. The flamingo has not been known to ever breed here, or to live here for extended periods of time, which are just some of the requirements for a bird species to be considered a "native species" animal within a particular region. Flamingos make their homes in Europe, Africa, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The Caribbean, or American, flamingo may visit our area for a short time while searching for food, but it has not been noted to permanently live in our region of the world. Sometimes small numbers of flamingos (they usually have flocks numbering in the hundreds of thousands) are driven into areas where they normally do not make their homes. This is generally due to a change in food sources or due to the effects of drought. The flamingos that we see here in Florida are generally ones which have been brought in for display purposes in zoos, etc. Their wings are generally pinned or trimmed to keep them within their areas. There have been a few "escapees" due to accidental release, or due to release because of natural disasters such as hurricanes. Generally these birds will stay only for a short while, but they migrate on to more suitable habitat areas and never seem to make us their permanent home"