Primrose Willow

This primrose willow is doing just what it should, growing in a wet area of central Florida, and blooming in the fall. There's not much to say about it, other than it looks nice.

State Vegetable?

It came to my attention today that Florida doesn't have a state vegetable. State fruit, pie, beverage, flower, soil, freshwater fish, and many more, but no veggie. That's ok -- many states don't, and of the ones that do, two chose sweet potato, some picked tomatoes, and three selected some variety of onion. Utah added the State Historic Vegetable section (sugar beet), and Oklahoma started conversation by naming watermelon as its state vegetable.

Practically every vegetable under the sun is grown in Florida -- which would best represent this state? How about naming the state tree (Sabal Palm) as the state vegetable as well? That would be swamp cabbage (or hearts of palm, depending on where you are dining). However, since harvesting the cabbage kills the tree, you would need permission before using fresh swamp cabbage to make this recipe:

Marinated Flank Steak with Stewed Florida Swamp Cabbage (from Emeril Lagasse and the Food Network.com)

Outside My Office Door

Under tall pines and tangled with palms and muscadine vines, an American beautyberry bears fruit. The beautyberry's scientific name is Callicarpa americana. Birds enjoy the berries straight off the bush, but people make jellies and jams.















Pretty, but not welcome in these parts, is the Caesarweed (Urena lobata). It looks fairly quiet, but it's an invasive exotic plant, considered a noxious weed.




















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Additional reading:

Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
50 Common Native Plants Important in Florida's Ethnobotoanical History