Florida's Wildflowers
Yellow

On this page - Leavenworths Tickseed, Bushy Seaside Oxeye, Narrowleaf Yellowtops, Smallfruit Beggertick, Tall Milkwort, Yellow Milkwort, Candyroot, Pineland Heliotrope, Yellow Butterwort, Florida Scrub Frostweed, Savannah Milkweed, Sensitive Pea

Leavenworth's Tickseed - Coreopsis leavenworthii

Family - Asteraceae (Aster family)

Habitat - Prairie, Pinelands, Moist open areas

Description - Florida's state wildflower. Native, endemic perennial herbaceous wildflower. 1-3 feet tall with an equal spread. Leaves are opposite, simple, 2-4 inches long, lobed. There are seven species of Coreopsis which are native to Florida.

Flower - A variety of colors - yellow, red, pink, purple, orange, 11/2 to 2 inches wide, ray florets with dentate tips surrounding a small central disk.

Bushy Seaside Oxeye - Borrichia frutescens

Family - Asteraceae (Aster family)

Habitat - Margins of Salt Marsh, Mangrove Swamps

Description - Native perennial subshrub, 2-4 feet high with equal spread, Leaves grey-green, fleshy, simple, obovate to 2-4 inches.

Flower - Yellow rays, 1-1 1/4 inch wide, central disk brownish-yellow.

Narrowleaf Yellowtops - Flaveria linearis

Family - Asteraceae (Aster family)

Habitat - Coastal hammocks, coastal strand, pinelands, disturbed areas, often in colonies or patches.

Description - Native perennial herb, subshrub 1 to 2 feet tall occasionally to as much as 4-5 feet, taller than broad, leaves are opposite, linear with entire margins.

Flower - Clusters of showy yellow flowers.

Smallfruit Begger-ticks - Bidens mitis

Family - Asteraceae (Aster family)

Habitat - Borders of marshes, swamps

Description - Native annual or perennial herbaceous wildflower, generally sprawling habit of growth, 2-3 feet in height.

Flower - Bright yellow, average 2 - 2 1/2 inches across.

Tall Pinebarren Milkwort - Polygala cymosa

Family - Polygalaceae

Habitat - Woodland depressions, cypress swamps, savannas, wet pine flatwoods

Description - Native herbaceous biennial. Flower stalks rise from a basal rosette of linear to lanceolate leaves.

Flower - Small profuse bright yellow flowers on cymosely branched inflorescence to 3 feet tall.

Yellow Milkwort, Yellow Batchelors Buttons - Polygala rugelii

Family - Polygalaceae

Habitat - Moist sandy soils in pinelands, wet prairie.

Description - Native, endemic annual forb/herb. Height to 3 feet.

Flower - Small yellow flowers in densely packed heads, 1 - 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Candyroot - Polygala nana

Family - Polygalaceae

Habitat - Wet Flatwoods, Wet Prairie, moist open sandy areas.

Description - Forb/Herb, Annual to 6 inches in height with glabrous, oblanceolate leaves, 2 inches or less in length.

Flower - Small, lemon yellow flowers in 1 - 2 inch dense clusters.

Pineland Heliotrope - Heliotropium polyphyllum

Family - Boraginaceae

Habitat - Moist to wet pinelands, margins of wet prairie.

Description - Native perennial herb, subshrub with a low, spreading habit of growth. Flower arrangement is a one sided spike, like that of the Scorpions-tail and other members of the Genus Heliotropium. Flower color ranges from white to yellow.

Yellow Butterwort - Pinguicula lutea

Family - Lentibulariaceae (Bladderwort family)

Habitat - Wet Pinelands, Wet Prairies, Bogs

Description - Florida native wildflower, herbaceous perennial. This carnivorous plant traps small insects on the surface of its sticky basal leaves which roll up to digest its prey. Bright yellow flowers in spring, producing 2-4 stalks usually 1 foot or less in height. Basal rosette of leaves 2 to 6 inches across.

Florida Scrub Frostweed - Helianthemum nashii

Family - Cistaceae

Habitat - Sandhill, Scrub

Description - Endemic Florida native perennial subshrub. Height 18-20 inches, leaves are alternate, oblong with acuminate apex, margins entire, finely pubescent. Clump forming, common in open areas of Sand pine & rosemary scrub. Yellow flowers produced from leaf axils.

Savannah Milkweed - Asclepias pedicellata

Family - Apocynaceae ((Milkweed family)

As is true with all members of the genus Asclepias,savannah milkweeed is a larval host plant for the Monarch, Queen, and Soldier butterfly as well as being visited by other butterflies, bees, and wasps.

Perennial herb, leaves are opposite, linear and sessile. Grows to 12 inches high in full sun to high shade, on moist well drained sandy soils of wet praires and moist pinelands.

Urn shaped, erect, greenish-yellow flowers have five deeply lobed petals produced from spring through fall in a terminal or an auxillary inflorescence.

Sensitive Pea - Chamaecrista nictitans

Family - Fabaceae (Pea Family)

Sensitive Partridge-Pea or Sensitive Pea is a small annual up to 1 foot tall. Small yellow flowers (1/4inch) are produced in late summer, hanging from short stems at the leaf axils. Leaves are pinnately-compound and have as many as 25 leaflets that usually fold together when touched.

Grows in full sun on sandy, well drained soils of dry pinelands, scrub and prairies.