Saw Palmetto, a species of Serenoa

Common Names: American dwarf palm tree, cabbage palm
Botanical Name: Serenoa repens

Description: Saw palmetto grows wild in natural areas around Florida and tolerates a range of conditions. It is highly salt-tolerant hence its prevalence along the coast. Saw palmetto is a multi-trunked palm that typically grows 5 to 10 feet tall and spreads 4 to 10 feet wide. It is slow-growing and its stems produce fan-shaped fronds that sag over the ground. Most saw palmettos have green leaves and in the spring, flower stalks appear with small yellow-white, fragrant flowers. These flowers attract bees that make high-grade saw palmetto honey. The flower blooms are followed by small, yellow berries that turn black and ripen August through October. Saw palmetto is great for wildlife, as the berries are an important food source for many mammals and birds and it is also a host plant for the larvae of the palmetto skipper and monk butterflies. Some people believe that extracts from the berries could be an alternative treatment for prostate cancer, despite statements from the American Cancer Society that say there is no evidence of this. Because of increasing interest in the berries, a harvesting permit is now required to protect and preserve these plants.

Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Genus: Serenoa
Species: S. repens

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Seagrape, a species of Coccoloba

Common Names: Baygrape, Jamaica kino, platter leaf
Botanical Name: Coccoloba uvifera

Description: The seagrape tree has large leathery leaves with a tint of red that grow row 8 to 10 inches in diameter and upright branches. The tree can reach a height of 25 to 30 feet and can take on a variety of shapes, depending upon its location. Typically they form a multi-stemmed vase shape if left unpruned. In late summer female shrubs produce clusters of fruit that resemble grapes that start green and ripen to purple. When the fruit is ripe, it is very sweet, providing tasty treats for people and animals and they can also be used to make jelly or wine. These plants tolerate salty and windy conditions and can act as a windbreak. They can stabilize dunes, and provide habitat for wildlife - including protection for nesting sea turtles from artificial lights like street or porch lamps and headlights.

Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Coccoloba
Species: C. uvifera

Sea Oats, a species of Uniola

Common Names: Spikegrass, common beach grass, seaside oats, araña, and Arroz de costa
Botanical Name: Uniola paniculata

Description: Sea oats are tall, thin grass that can grow up to 7ft in height. It produces flat spikelets, each of which contains 10 to 12 wind-pollinated florets that ripen to golden brown seed heads that are dispersed by wind in late summer. They root easily when buried in sand and are found on beach fronts and barrier islands along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf Coast. It is less common inland between dunes where salt spray is limited, and it is rarely found inland. It is tolerant of harsh conditions like heat, drought, salinity, and brief inundation by seawater. It grows in loose sand rather than finer-grained silty or clay-rich soils and does not tolerate water-logging. They are important to barrier island ecology and are often used in sand stabilization projects because their long root structure firmly holds loose sand. The loss of the plants leads to erosion and loss of protective dunes.

Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Uniola
Species: U. paniculata

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American beachgrass, a species of Bent grass

Common Names: American marram grass, American dune grass,
Botanical Name: Ammophila breviligulata

Description: American beachgrass is a species of leafy grass native to eastern North America, where it grows up to 2 or 3 feet tall on dunes along the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes coasts. The leaves have deeply furrowed upper surfaces and smooth undersides.  The long narrow leaves may become rolled or folded when exposed to intense heat, excessive sunlight, or drying winds but beachgrass thrives under conditions of shifting sand, sand burial, and high winds. It is a dune-building grass that builds the first line of dunes along the coast. often planted in dune restoration projects, it was first introduced to the Pacific coast of North America in the 1930s and it has gradually supplanted. It is proving to be invasive and is increasingly important to coastal ecology and development in North America.

Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Ammophila
Species: A. breviligulata

Seaside sandplant a species of Honckenya

Common Names: Sea sandwort, sea-beach sandwort, sea chickweed, sea purslane, sea chickweed
Botanical Name: Honckenya peploides

Description: Sea sandwort is an edible succulent with creeping outgrowth that make it well adapted to growing in mobile substrates. This seaside plant forms distinctive mats or clumps on sandy locations and in areas in which there are masses of seashells and rocks. The stem is branching and buried in the sand and its leaves are dark-lime green in color and are neatly arranged behind each other on its creeping stems. Sea sandwort flowers are radially symmetrical, white, and bloom between June and August. This plant was named after German botanist Gerhard August Honckeny (1724–1805). Sea sandwort stabilizes and fertilizes the substrate it grows on, thereby helping other maritime plants. Over time it changes the conditions in a way that they meet the other plants’ demands and eventually finds itself in retreat from the increasing competition.

Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Genus: Honckenya
Species: H. peploides

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Herb of grace a species of WaterHyssop

Common Names: Coast bacopa, English daisy, Thyme-leafed gratiola, Indian pennywort
Botanical Name: Bacopa monnieri

Description: Bacopa monnieri, known by the common name water hyssop is a perennial, creeping found in freshwater tidal marshes, coasts, streams, pools, and muddy shores. It is a semi-aquatic plant with glossy green leaves and lovely bell-shaped white flowers that are sometimes tinted with a little pink or blue. This plant is heat tolerant, but not drought tolerant at all. This plant is often used in hanging baskets, aquariums, and sometimes sold for medicinal purposes.

Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Bacopa
Species: B. monnieri