South Florida Field Trip - Part 1

On Saturday, August 24, 2013, Michael Manna and I took a short, one-day botanical field trip to Miami-Dade County. While Michael had breakfast with his wife and daughter, I took the opportunity to look at some of his plants. So, in a sense, the botanical field trip began at his home. Michael is one of the few gardeners in Palm Beach County who has an extensive collection of carnivorous plants and I immediately headed straight for the carnivores.

As I entered the backyard, I was greeted by several Nepenthes (tropical pitcher plants), among which was Nepenthes 'Red Dragon', a plant with sizeable green pitchers accented with an attractive red peristome (pitcher rim) and operculum (pitcher lid).

Nepenthes 'Red Dragon'

On the way to his American pitcher plant collection (Sarracenia species), I passed several tubs of aquatic plants, most of which had a native duckweed, Spirodela polyrhiza, growing in them. This plant is known as "common duckweed" but I find that, at least in Palm Beach County, it is less common than the dotted duckweed, Landoltia punctata, a non-native plant whose invasive tendencies are often overlooked because most people assume all duckweeds are native. One tub appeared to be filled with a delicate coon's tail (Ceratophyllum species) but upon closer inspection, the plants turned out to be the waterwheel plant (Aldrovanda vesiculosa). The latter is a remarkable aquatic carnivorous plant related to the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). Like the Venus flytrap, Aldrovanda vesiculosa also possesses snap traps, although in Aldrovanda the traps are adapted for catching small aquatic prey. The traps are tiny but they can capture prey much larger than themselves as can be seen in the YouTube Video embedded below.

Spirodela polyrhiza, common duckweed.

Aldrovanda vesiculosa, the waterwheel plant, growing with Spirodela polyrhiza, common duckweed. Note the whorled leaves, each of which bears a tiny snap trap. The traps are similar to those of the Venus flytrap but are much smaller.

The Sarracenia collection had dwindled somewhat from its former glory because Palm Beach County winters are a tad too warm for most sarracenias to have a proper winter dormancy; however, the ones that had persisted were doing well. I was glad to see S. leucophylla, perhaps among the most vegetatively beautiful plants native to Florida. And S. ×catesbaei had also persisted, having formed a relatively large specimen.

Sarracenia leucophylla, the whitetop pitcher plant.

Sarracenia ×catesbaei, the hybrid of S. flava and S. purpurea.

After admiring the carnivorous plants, I made my way back to the front yard, stopping to admire what is probably the largest firebush (Hamelia patens) in the county. It was about as tall as Michael's house, nearly twice as wide, and covered with innumerable quantities of bright orange-red tubular flowers. It presented a spectacular sight in the early morning light but, because I had only my macro lens with me, I was unable to photograph it. Also catching my attention was a beautiful Ixora hybrid with large dark green leaves and contrasting white flowers with flower buds blushed an attractive shade of pastel pink.

Ixora hybrid with white flowers and pink-blushed flower buds.

For more of Michael Manna's carnivorous plants, see my previous post of a visit to Michael's former home and garden.

Go to Part 2 of a "South Florida Field Trip."
Go to Part 3 of a "South Florida Field Trip."
Go to Part 4 of a "South Florida Field Trip."

Images and text © 2013 Rufino Osorio

A Visit to the Garden of Michael Manna

On Saturday, February 26, 2011, Ryan Leavengood and I visited the home of fellow Florida Native Plant Society member, Michael Manna. The following is a brief account of that visit.

The variety of plants grown by Michael was amazing but four principal groups stood out in my mind: Florida native plants; carnivorous plants; utilitarian plants such as edible, medicinal, or herbal plants; and a variety of tropical plants, most notably, orchids and bromeliads. One remarkable plant that did not fit any of these categories was a venerable Florida cracker rose that was growing to perfection and had beautiful, dark green foliage unblemished by even a hint of disease or insect damage. Among the utilitarian plants, there were a variety of spinach substitutes, as well as a dwarf everbearing mulberry tree, with the fruits of the latter proving a great delight to Michael's daughter, the 18-month-old Willow.

Michael is perhaps best known for his carnivorous plant collection and he grows a wide variety of butterworts (Pinguicula species) and Asian pitcher plants (Nepenthes species). Also well represented are sundews (Drosera species) and American pitcher plants (Sarracenia species). Unfortunately, at the time of our visit, the American pitcher plants were mostly dormant so we had to content ourselves with admiring the freshly developing flower buds, which promised a bountiful show of blossoms a little later in the year. Also present in Michael's collection of carnivorous plants was the Albany pitcher plant (Cephalotus follicularis), which grows in the vicinity of the town of Albany in southwestern Australia, as well as the rainbow plant (Byblis liniflora), also hailing from Australia and named for its linear leaves bedecked with dewy glands that beautifully glisten in the sunlight.

Although many Florida native trees and shrubs are grown by Michael, the most interesting native plants for me were the numerous native wildflowers that he cultivated. The list is a very long one and included many small, colorful plants that are rarely ever grown by gardeners of any kind, whether focusing on native plants or not. Among these were Polygala lutea (orange milkwort); Dichanthelium species (witchgrasses); Xyris species (yellow-eyed-grasses); and Viola species (wild violets), of which Michael had three different species, this being the largest number I have ever seen in a south Florida garden. Also noteworthy, among so many other noteworthy plants, was a tub of the native yellow-flowered water-lily, Nymphaea mexicana.

The images below represent a small sample of the many beautiful plants Ryan and I observed during our visit:

Achillea millefolium (yarrow) is grown for both its ornamental and herbal uses.

 

Brugmansia (angel's trumpet).

 

Cephalotus follicularis, the Albany pitcher plant.

 

Drosera binata var. binata, a striking sundew native to Australia and New Zealand.

 

Drosera burmannii, an annual Asian sundew that readily spreads by way of self-sown seeds.

 

A view of the greenhouse, where most of the Asian pitcher plants are kept.

 

Pinguicula 'Aphrodite', a hybrid butterwort whose parents are Pinguicula agnata and Pinguicula moctezumae.

 

Pinguicula gigantea, note the numerous tiny gnats that have been trapped by the plant.

 

A beautifully grown old fashioned Florida cracker rose.

 

The native Tillandsia fasciculata, one of many bromeliads in the collection.

 

Verbesina virginica, white crownbeard, growing with the native grass, Panicum dichotomiflorum var. bartowense

 

Viola palmata has dark violet-purple petals when the flowers first open.

 

Viola palmata flowers continue to enlarge, and become more pale, as they age.

 

© 2010 Rufino Osorio.