Flood tolerant plant - Plant Encyclopedia Results

This large lily is a very versatile and hardy plant. It makes a great feature plant for the home garden, especially when large. It can be grown in a wide range of conditions from full sun to half shade or more. It tolerates poor drainage and clay soils, and can be planted successfully under established eucalypts. It is suitable for coastal areas and tolerates frosts. Swamp lilies also flower well in containers. Crinum pedunculatum is also hardy enough to use in street planting. The species is easily grown from seed, which should be kept moist. Seeds sometimes germinate while still attached to the parent plant.

This unique plant is the only tree in Asteraceae family. The persistent white pappus of the infructescences remains showy for months after the plants stop blooming. The plant looks like a white cloud or covered with snow. Winter bloomer. Unusual shape leaves 1-2" wide. Can be grown as a large bush, trained into a small standard tree, or kept in a pot. Very hardy plant, tolerates drought and poor soils, and some freeze.

Lumnitzera littorea is found in the back mangroves, in soft, muddy substrates where tidal inundation is rare. Has ornamental potential due to its red flowers.

Persea borbonia is a relative of Avocado and Bay Leaf, the leaves of this aromatic herb tree are used for seasoning. he spicy leaves can be used to flavor soups and meats. Try crushing one of their leaves and you will smell an aroma similar to the bay leaves in your kitchen.

The plant develops a dense, pyramidal crown with gently drooping branches. The bark of the Persea borbonia is reddish-brown with irregular furrows that separate flat-topped ridges. Small round fruits appear on the tips of branches. The fruit is a small bright blue to shiny black drupe. The inside of these fruits looks like a miniature avocado complete with green, squishy flesh and a dark seed. In fact, an even closer relative to swamp bay than the culinary bay is the edible avocado (Persea americana). This plant is highly salt tolerant and tolerates flooding. Persea borbonia is usually associated with lowlands, hardwood swampy forests and moist or swampy conditions, but occurs in a variety of habitats, ranging from edges of fields and ditches to dry sandy areas, ridges and even dunes near the coast.

Saururus cernuus is a rhizomatous, deciduous, marginal aquatic perennial.

Features heart-shaped leaves on erect, branching, somewhat zig-zag stems and tiny fragrant white flowers packed into slender, tapered, spike-like racemes that droop at the tips.

Native to the tropical forests of South America, Carapa guianensis, commonly known as Crabwood or Andiroba, is an impressive tree that can reach heights of more than 20 feet. At maturity, the tree trunk can become quite large and its bright green leaves, which remain evergreen through most of the year, can reach 3-5 inches long. This tree boasts showy clusters of white and off-white flowers that appear in spring and summer, giving rise to edible fruits with hairy brown and orange nuts.

Andiroba's ethnomedical uses are quite impressive, since the oil from its seeds is an effective agent for treating skin conditions, insect repellent, and even furniture polish. Its wood is highly sought after by sawmills due to its soft yet durable properties. In addition, Andiroba is a flood-tolerant tree, being able to survive in flooded conditions for extended periods of time.

Growing and caring for Andiroba is possible in USDA Zones 9-11, although it is best suited for warmer climates. When it comes to placement, Andiroba will prefer full sun and semi-shade, and regular watering is a must. In cold regions, it is recommended to plant Andiroba in a pot and keep it indoors during cold months, in order to ensure proper care and avoid freezing during freezing temperatures.

The leaves are evergreen, light and dark green, 15-35 cm long, and are usually arrowhead-shaped, with three lobes. The leaf shape can vary depending on the age of the plant. The bright orange berries, 4 as a rule, measuring about 2.5 to 3 cm (1 to l-1/4 in) in length, are borne in the axils of the spathes, which are persistent. One advantage of the fruit is that it colors rapidly and then ripens on the plant for a period of almost six months. It functions well as a hanging or terrarium plant. The most common of its problems is root rot and can be avoided by providing adequate drainage.

An unrelated American species, Syngonium podophyllum, commonly grown as a houseplant, was originally confused with the similar-looking Nephthytis. It still retains Nephthytis as a common name, though it was given its own genus in 1879.

This is a pretty, fast-growing, perennial water plant. It has flat, rounded, floating leaves, and delicate white and yellow flowers appearing in summer. N. Indica may be planted in the soil at the bottom of a pond in about 15" to 30" of water, although it is fairly tolerant of fluctuating water levels. This plant will naturally spread on its own. However, one can also divide it by cutting the stolons between the tufts and removing the plantlets to the new pond or allowing them to root in soil if not already rooted.

Pluchea can grow as an annual or perennial, depending on winter temperatures and the amount of summer water. It inhabits wetlands and other coastal habitats and moist inland areas, often in saline substrates. Pluchea odorata odorata tolerates alkaline soil, salt and seasonal flooding. The entire plant is dotted with glands that emit a wonderful herbal-fruity scent when touched, even dry winter leaves that persist until spring - hence its common name.One of the best features of Sweetscent is its colors. The foliage is a pale green pastel. Contrast this with the pink-purple flowers.

In contrast with its relative, a valuable Tea Tree, this Melaleuca has rather disturbing story. Being a tough plant, tolerating both standing water or dry upland situations, Melaleuca quinquenervia was introduced in Hawaii and the Florida Everglades, in order to help drain low-lying swampy areas. It has since gone on to become an invasive weed with potentially very serious consequences being that the plants are highly flammable and spread aggressively.

Melaleuca quinquenervia is an evergreen tree with a slender crown and drooping branches. Melaleuca grows very fast, up to 6 ft per year, and produces dense stands that completely shade out all other vegetation. It usually gets about 40 ft tall, but can get up to 100 ft if conditions are favorable. The bark is whitish and spongy, peeling off in thin layers. The leaves smell like camphor when bruised. The flowers are creamy white and arranged in "bottle brush" spikes; they are followed by fruit - small woody capsules, each containing several hundred tiny seeds, dispersed then by wind and water. A single tree that starts blooming when two year old, can produce 20 million seeds per year. The seeds are stored until some form of stress, such as frost, fire or human- induced injury, including herbicide, causes the capsules to open. The plant re-sprouts from cut stumps and from roots of fire-killed trees. Mature melaleuca trees survived Florida record-breaking freezes. Freezing is yet another environmental stress factor known to trigger mass seed release.

In Southern Florida, Melaleuca occupies now several million acres, primarily within the Everglades system. Its populations have nearly quadrupled over the past decade, it has become one of the state's worst invasive weeds and represents a severe threat to the integrity of the Florida Everglades. Melaleuca was introduced into Florida in 1906 as an ornamental and widely planted for landscaping and for "swamp drying." Seeds were scattered from airplanes over the Everglades in the 1930's in an attempt to create forests and drain the swamp. Even as late as the 1960's, Melaleuca was still being recommended as an ornamental. Today, state and federal agencies are actively working to control the spread of this exotic menace. Biological control agents from Australia have been released. Crews are at work continuously cutting and herbiciding melaleuca trees in state parks, Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.

Melaleuca quinquenervia is similar to Melaleuca cajuputi but its old leaves are not conspicuously dotted with glands, not thin-textured and have obscure reticulations.