Myrtle Oak

Common Names: Myrtle oak

Latin Names: Quercus myrtifolia

Type: Tree

Origin: Native

Edible: x

Myrtle oak (June)

Palm ?

Common Names: Cabbage palm, palmetto, blue palmetto, carolina palmetto, common palmetto, swamp cabbage

Latin Names: Sabal palmetto

Type: Tree

Origin: Native

Or Pindo Palm - Butia capitata ...or something else. App says golden cane palm or African oil palm or Canary Island palm

Edible: Heart of the palm is edible but this kills the tree. They say that the fruit outside the seed is edible or can be chewed. If Pindo, can make a jelly from the fruit.Young leaf buds are edible raw or cooked. Oil from the seed is like coconut oil.

--> Fruit part of the seed is very thin and woody. Couldn't eat it.

Other uses: Palm leaf stalk used for fiber. Leaves used to make mats, hats, and baskets. The wood has specific uses.

Note: Tree is drought tolerant, salt tolerant, cold hardy, pest and disease free.

Online I've found a procedure to germinate the seeds. Starting a trial. Took fresh seeds (just fell off tree. However most seeds had already been eaten by wildlife & bugs. None of the seeds looked dark like online pictures. They looked more like green seeds but they had already dropped off the tree and few seeds were left in the tree. Removed the outer skin/fruit on them and soaked in water for 24 hours).

Palm (June)

Palm (June)

Palm (June)

Palm - fruit (June)

Palm (late June) - fruit almost gone

Palm (late June) - fruit w/ seed
inside

Palm (late June)
- Fruit/nut almost all eaten and on the ground

Oak ?

Common Names: White Oak???

Latin Names: Quercus bicolor

Type: Tree

Origin: Native

Edible: x

Notes: Grows very large and some trees are several hundreds of years old. Can grow as wide as it is tall. Online information says the trees don't produce acorns until it is at least 50 years old, germination rate is only 10%, and the amount of acorns vary every year. Our 2 trees in the front yard are in their 20's (planted as an acorn by the previous home owners) and produce lots of very large acorns in the last two years and we see lots of seedlings below the tree. We've planted several acorns and are starting new trees. The biggest problem has been that deer eat the seedlings.

Barks has a series of holes around the circumference on both trees in the front and the tree in back. Believed to be yellow-bellied sapsucker holes.

***Not sure of oak species. Neighbor says this is White Oak but it doesn't seem to fit into normal northern U.S. distribution and leaf shape is wrong. App says Pendunculate oak or sessile oak. ***

Quercus michauxii Nuttall - Swamp chestnut oak?

? Oak (May)

? Oak (May)

? Oak (May)

? Oak (May)

? Oak (May)

? Oak (June)

? Oak (April)

? Oak (April)

Turk's Cap

Common Names: Turk's cap, sleepy mallow, sleeping hibiscus, wax mallow, cardinal's hat, turk's turban, ladies teardrop, scotchman's purse
Latin Names: Malvaviscus arboreus
Type: Shrub
Origin: Native

Edible: Flowers and young leaves are edible cooked or raw. The fruit can make jelly. The fruit and flowers can make herbal teas. The flowers can make a lemonade-type drink.

   --> Flowers are sweet tasting and excellent. Blooms May-August.

Notes: Attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. The flowers never fully open. In the hibiscus family. Grew fast from a section of a neighbor's plant.

Turk's cap (June)

Turk's cap (May - Year 2)

Turk's cap (May)

Turk's cap (July)

Eastern Poison Ivy

Common Names: Eastern poison ivy

Latin Names: Toxicodendron radicans

Type: Vine

Origin: Native

Edible: No!

Other uses: Deer and rabbits eat it. Birds eat the fruit and bees are attracted to the blooms.

Notes: I'm definitely allergic to this! In some trees along the line of the woods.

Poison ivy (July)

Poison ivy (April)

Honeysuckle

Common Names: Honeysuckle

Latin Names: Lonicera japonica

Type: Vine

Origin: Eastern asia - invasive plant and can kill a tree with these vines

Edible: Flowers are edible raw or cooked. The nectar in the flower can be sucked out for a sweet taste. Young leaves can be eaten after cooking (some sources say one should change the water during the process). Leaves and flowers can make a tea.

Other uses: Vine can be used as a twine, fiber or for baskets. Flowers and dried leaves used in Chinese medicine.

Notes: One of the vines trying to take over the edge of the woods. Hummingbirds are attracted to the flowers.

Honeysuckle (May)

Honeysuckle - flower (May)

Honeysuckle (May)

Honeysuckle - flower (May)

Bottlebrush

Common Names: Bottlebrush, weeping bottlebrush, creeping bottlebrush
Latin Name: Melaleuca viminalis
Type: Shrub
Origin: Australia, used for landscaping in Florida

Edible: Possible tea (see other uses).

Other uses:  Leaves and flower can make a tea. The tea is listed as an antifungal / antibacterial used for internal infections, a laxative, or a wash for skin infections. Flower is more a sweetener than a tea. Flowers and leaves can make a dye. Wood can be used but normally too small for anything but handles or used as fuel.

Note: Bloomed in May then stopped. Neighbor's bottlebrushes still blooming in July. Love these blooms! Bees also love them. The vitinalis leaf smells like medicine while the citrinus smells like lemon.

Bottlebrush (April)

Bottlebrush (May)

Bottlebrush - flower (May)

Bottlebrush bark (May)

Bottlebrush - leaves (May)