Lo and behold, my mystery flower is a Pawpaw Tree!
Four-Petal - Asimina tetramera
The Four-Petal Paw Paw prefers being in a Sand Pine Scrub Ecosystem. It is endangered due to habitat destruction from over development.
I appreciate all of the wonderful comments and good ideas but I actually found the answer in an old 1938 book that I had on my bookshelf, Florida Wild Flowers by Mary Francis Baker.
I love old books!
Even though the illustration wasn’t the best, I could still tell.
I love a challenge and a good ‘google search’. But on Sunday afternoon I stretched out on the sofa with some old wildflower books and found a positive ID!
We had gone back over to Ross Prairie and to the Florida Trails that are nearby to look at each and every plant.
To make it even more challenging, some of the twiggy ‘trees’ or shrubs had blooms with only 3 petals.
Some of the centers were different too.
One even had purple inner petals which I thought was gorgeous.
Once I knew what it was, I found lots of references to it being here in Florida. I enjoyed reading the website, Walking with the Alligators (HERE) and learned a lot from the gator woman!
The Survival Gardener has some great information on it HERE !
I want to thank Michael E. Abrams from Florida Wildflowers too. I wrote him, gave him my blog address and told him where I had found the flower. He was nice enough to write back on Monday morning and confirm my positive identification! WHEW! I was so happy!
“Picking up Paw Paws, put ‘em in my pocket;
Picking up Paw Paws, put ‘em in my pocket;
Picking up Paw Paws, put ‘em in my pocket;
Way down yonder in the Paw Paw Patch”
Do you remember that song? I think we sang and danced it with Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans!
I’m joining Thankful Thursdays
and Wildflower Wednesday.
Come on down!
I found the Paw Paw Patch!
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