Native Habitat: flatwoods, swamps, moist secondary woods
Medicinal Uses: liver and skin disorders, ophthalmalic treatments, women's treatment.
Medicinal Preparation: For women's treatment, maple bark is boiled with several other tree barks and the woman stands or sits over the steam.
Florida Native Plant Society Database entry
Atlas of Florida Plants entry
Plant Size: 1-2 ft tall x 0.5 - 1.5 ft wide
Habitat: sandhill, clayhill, scrub, ruderal
Medicinal Uses: used by Native Americans and settlers for bronchial conditions (pleurisy) and topically for bruises and sore muscles
Florida Native Plant Society database entry for Asclepius tuberosa
Atlas of Florida Plants database entry for Asclepius tuberosa
Plant Size: 10-30 ft tall x 10-20 ft wide
Habitat: Coastal swamps, beaches, cypress dones, Everglades tree islands, edges of ditches and canals
Medicinal Uses: Used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, and skin irritations. Leaves, bark, fruit and roots contain tannins and are an astrigent.
Medicinal Preparation: For skin irritations, the leaves and bark can be boiled, strained, and cooled to then use to wash the irritated area topically. To treat diarrhea, the leaves can be boiled to make a tea.
Florida Native Plant Society database entry for Chrysobalanus icaco
Atlas of Florida Plants database entry for Chrysobalanus icaco
Discussed in: Cocoplum Plant Profile: Native Florida Edible coastal and medicinal plant
Found in the following counties: Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, Indian River, Lee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, Pasco, Sarasota, St. Lucie
Plant Size: 40-60 ft tal x 20-60 ft wide
Habitat: Moist-wet sites to dry sites and on shallow soils over limestone. Tropical hammocks, swamps. May be epiphytic or have aerial roots that may wrap around the trunks of other trees and eventually form secondary trunks
Medicinal Uses: Inside bark used to treat sores and cuts. Stranlger fig can also be used to treat diarrhoea, dysentery and other gastrointestinal disorders.
Medicinal Preparation: Leaves can be brewed into a tea. Sap can be extracted as an ointment.
Florida Native Plant Society database entry for Ficus Aurea
Atlas of Florida Plants database entry for Ficus Aurea
Found in the following counties: Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lee, Manatee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okeechobee, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, St. Lucie, Volusia
Habitat: Vary by species. Mostly sandhills, bogs, roadsides, ruderal
Medicinal Uses: Support immune system, antibacterial effects against the germ that causes tuberculosis, used by Native Americans as a cold remedy and to treat worms. Also used by Native Americans for external washes to treat snakebites, swelling, and sores; root juice also used to treat earaches.
Medicinal Preparation: Root can be boiled into a tea, leaves and flowers can be crushed into a poultice, roots can be made into a tincture. Leaves and flowers can also be boiled into a tea.
Contraindications: Some people may experience skin irrations when they come into contact with plant or related species
Florida Native Plant Society database entry for Rudbeckia Hirta
Atlas of Florida Plants database entry for Rudbeckia Hirta
Plant Size: 10-15 ft, at least as wide as it is tall, sometimes wider
Habitat: Disturbed wetland edges, wet roadsides, swamps, wet woodlands, riverbanks, ditches
Medicinal Uses: used to treat chest and digestive pain, to prevent and relieve cold and flu symptons. Has also been used to treat constipation, joint and muscle pain, respiratory infections, headaches, kidney problems, epilepsy, minor skin conditions, stress, and HIV and AIDS
Medicinal Preparation: Berries can be prepared into a syrup. It can also be prepared as gummies. Dried elderberries can also be boiled into a tea.
Contraindications: Children may become ill from playing with elderberry whistles or blowguns; plant contains cyanogenic glycosides
Florida Native Plant Society database entry for Sambucus Nigra subsp. canadensis
Atlas of Florida Plants database entry for Sambucus Nigra subsp. canadensis
Discussed in: 20 Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Southeastern U.S. Making Herbal Teas, Tinctures, and Salves with Bevin Cohen American Black Elderberry Sambucus canadensis great for natural habitat, refreshing beverage & more
Plant Size: 30-60 ft tall x 25-40 ft wide, forms clones
Medicinal Uses: used by Native Americans to treat chest and digestive pain, digestive troubles, and a cold and cough mouthwash.
Medicinal Preparation: The roots can boiled into a tea.
Contraindications: Lab rats fed sassafras developed tumors
Florida Native Plant Society database entry for Sassafras albidum
Atlas of Florida Plants database entry for Sassafras albidum
Discussed in: 20 Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Southeastern U.S.
Found in the following counties: Alachua, Baker, Bay, Calhoun, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsdem, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Santa Rosa, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton, Washington
Plant Size: 10-20 ft tall x 10-20 ft wide
Medicinal Uses: Seminoles used the bark in a body wash to reduce deer sickness (painful limbs) and a mouthwash from the roots to treat sore gums.
Florida Native Plant Society database entry for Ximenia Americana
Atlas of Florida Plants database entry for Ximenia Americana
Found in the following counties: Alachua, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, DeSoto, Duval, Flagler, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Levy, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe Keys, Monroe Mainland, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Volusia
Plant Size: 8-25 ft tall x 5-8 ft wide, clonal
Habitat: Coastal and inland scrub, dunes, floodplains and hammocks
Medicinal Uses: Supports immune system, provides digestive relief, used as a stimulant, and lowers the risk of diabetes and heart disease
Contraindications: Known to have large thorns
Florida Native Plant Society database entry for Ilex vomitoria
Atlas of Florida Plants database entry for Ilex vomitoria
Discussed in: Homegrown Teas 20 Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Southeastern U.S. Yaupon Holly Tea
Found in the following counties: Alachua, Baker, Bay, Brevard, Calhoun, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton, Washington
Habitat: Stagnant water, swiftly flowing waters of swamps pools, backwaters, blackwater streams, sometimes forming floating mats
Medicinal Uses: Used by many U.S. native American tribes for respiratory ailments
Atlas of Florida Plants database entry for Hydrocotyle Ranunculoides
Found in the following counties: Alachua, Bay, Brevard, Charlotte, Clay, Collier, DeSoto, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Hernando, Hillsborough, Indian River, Jefferson, Lake, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Nassau, Orange, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Volusia, Wakulla