Florida's Native Plant Communities

Scrub occurs across all of Florida’s climates—temperate, peninsular, and subtropical—on ancient dunes with deep, fine, excessively drained sands. This is a fire-dependent community with a natural fire return interval of 20–80 years. While scrub vegetation is relatively resistant to frequent fire, when burns do occur they are typically intense.

Scrub is characterized by sand pine ( Pinus clausa ), scrub oaks ( Quercus spp. ), Florida rosemary ( Ceratiola ericoides ), and lichens. Scrubs are often subcategorized based on the dominant species (e.g., sand pine scrub, oak scrub, rosemary scrub). The scrubs of the Lake Wales Ridge are among the oldest plant communities in North America and harbor exceptionally high numbers of rare and endemic species.

Scrub supports many endemic plant species, a high proportion of which are rare. Notable endemics include:

Scrub milkweed ( Asclepias curtissii )

Florida rosemary ( Ceratiola ericoides )

Garberia ( Garberia heterophylla )

Scrub rockrose ( Helianthemum nashii )

Scrub holly ( Ilex opaca var. arenicola )

Nodding pinweed ( Lechea cernua )

Scrub hickory ( Carya floridana )

Scrub palm ( Sabal etonia )

Sand pine ( Pinus clausa )

Approximately 45 plant species associated with scrub have been listed as endangered or threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), most of them concentrated in the scrubs of the central ridges. Particularly rare species include Eryngium cuneifolium , Florida gayfeather ( Liatris ohlingerae ), four-petal pawpaw ( Asimina tetramera ), sandlace ( Polygonum dentoceras ), and Florida goldenaster ( Chrysopsis floridana ). Very rare species also occur in scrubby sandhill habitats, including several perennial Dicerandra species and Florida ziziphus ( Ziziphus celata ).

High-quality examples of ancient scrub can be found on the Lake Wales Ridge, including:

Archbold Biological Station

Lake June-in-Winter State Park

Highlands Hammock State Park

Lake Marion State Forest

Ocala National Forest

Bill Frederick Park (Orlando)

Additional excellent examples include coastal scrubs in the Panhandle (e.g., Topsail Hill State Park) and near Florida’s east coast (e.g., Jonathan Dickinson State Park).