Phillip's Natural World: Florida Pusley

This Gulf fritillary. . .and many of his fellow butterflies seem drawn to this homely weed (Florida Pusley, Richardia scabra L.). I noticed many of the butterflies on the ground this morning and assumed them dead or dying. Instead it appears they actually like this weed.

Pusley is one of our most persistent weeds. The root on this weed looks very much like a white carrot, often extending a foot or more into the sand.

Scientifically speaking, Richardia scabra is an erect to prostrate, loosely branched annual, in the Rubiacea or Madder Family.

Richardia was named for an English physician, Richard Richardson. The Latin word scabra means rough and refers to the texture of the plant.

Richardia scabra is commonly found in sandy savannas and grasslands, on roadsides, turf and in cultivated fields and waste areas from central Florida northward to southern Virginia, and westward to Texas. Its range is continuous from this area southward through Mexico and Central America to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in South America, and Cuba and Jamaica in the West Indies. Specimens collected in other areas (Indiana in the United States, and Rhodesia, Tanzania and Transvaal in Africa) are presumed to be adventive.

This weed will bloom in almost any month that lacks frost. It is frequently mixed with Brazil Pusley, Richardia brasiliensis.

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Florida Governor Scott is Busy Trying to Get Trump Elected While Florida's Waterways Become Sewer-Like

Photo: Cristobal Herrera/European Pressphoto Agency

Miles of Algae
and a Multitude of Hazards

The stench from decaying algae began rising from coastal waterways in southeastern Florida early this month, shutting down businesses and beaches during a critical tourism season. Officials arrived, surveyed the toxic muck and declared states of emergency in four counties, then took off for Cleveland for the Republican National Convention.

Photo: Rhonda Wise/Agence France-Press/Getty Images

Photo: Greg Lovett/The Palm Beach Post/AP

Florida Governor Rick Scott doesn't believe in global warming or climate change anymore than does Donald Trump or Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and why should they care? They don't live amongst the dead fish and dying waterways of southeast Florida, and their reelection campaigns are largely funded by Big Sugar which polluted Lake Okeechobee and caused the algae bloom in the first place.

Road to Rio