The Lemon Bay Conservancy's Dr Bill Dunson recently hosted a naturalist walk on Manasota Key's Blind Pass Beach. The cool, cloudy morning was perfect for some botany, ecology, geology, oceanography, ornithology, entomology...and interesting anecdotes.
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Manasota Key is a barrier island on the SW coast of Florida. Mostly developed, but with two very nice preserves....Stump Pass Beach State Park on the south end, and Blind Pass Beach Preserve in the center.
The first thing the group saw was a patch of Mother In Law's Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata). Invasive in the wild, this popular garden and houseplant has some interesting features: selected by NASA to purify the air in future space stations, it is also good in homes as it absorbs nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde. The flower which Dr Bill holds below has very long petals (corolla tube) .....allowing only Sphynx moths to use their long probscises to reach the nectar and pollinate the plant.
If the are no Sphynx moths about, then this hardy plant is a rhizome and will propagate underground.
WOW....it's also a favorite for Feng Shui, as the leaves grow upward! Brings good luck, money and clean air.
Bring some vibrant Qi into your home!
Off into the mangroves on the lee side of the island.
Some White Mangrove trees (Avecennia germinans) which are fast growing and the first to return to a disturbed area.
An unusual find! Two Mangrove Salt Marsh Snakes (Nerodia clarkia compressicauda) warming up in the sun. Non-venomous and semi-aquatic.
The prettiest plant we saw, in my humble opinion, is the now out of favor, exotic, invasive.....but once popular as a ground cover..... Yellow Creeping Oxeye Daisy
(Wedelia trilobata, Sphagneticola trilobata)
Now considered a Class 2 invasive, but I think they are beautiful and they are a good butterfly plant.
With even a small increase in elevation above sea level, we entered a hardwood hammock. Dr Bill points out some features under the Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) canopy.
Back over to the Gulf of Mexico side of the key. Dr Bill discussed the natural Gulf currents, shifting of sand, and constant changes of the shoreline.
Loop current in the Gulf of Mexico
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Longshore drift current
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A bit of shell identification Here, just a piece of a Lightning Whelk (Sinistrofulgur perversum). What a great name! Any Latin scholars out there? I make it "A left sided bolt of lightning, in an unusual manner!" What do you think? It's been a long time since I studied Latin, and all I remember is...."Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres..."
Some talk on bird migration and a few cooperative species on the beach. A Snowy Egret (Egretta thula).
Red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator)
Brown Pelican (Pelicanus occidentalis).
No....not the catch of the day....but some evidence of a recent Ride Tide fish kill.
The dinoflagellate (Karenia brevis) which causes red tide.
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Most exciting find for me, a new species.....a flight of
White-tipped Black Moths (Melanchroia cephise)
These moths are the "parents" of the Snowbush caterpillar...considered enemy #1 of the imported Snowbush
(Breynia disticha) ornamental.
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So....if you have a resident insect which attacks an imported ornamental.....do you kill the insect? That's what the UF/Entomology Dept recommends. And with Sevin yet!!!
Sevin is a broad spectrum insecticide which is banned in many countries as a carcinogen and associated with birth defects!!!!
