Larger structures in the dune ecosystem include plants such as the inkberry, spanish bayonet, tough buckthorn, saw palmetto, saltbush, and Florida privet.

Uses: Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.

Slow growing to 4 to 8 feet Width: 2-3 ft Flower Color: White: Fruit Black

Note Flowers are inconspicuous, and plants are dioecious, with male and female flower plants.

Nutritional Requirements: Low to moderate; it can grow in nutrient poor soils or soils with some organic content Moderately salt tolerant.

Range: Eastern and southeastern United States west to Texas and south to Miami-Dade County and the Monroe County mainland.

Saltwater Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate flooding by salt or brackish water. Salt wind tolerance is low.

Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils,

but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.

Spanish bayonet, is a great accent plant for dunes with its dramatic flower spikes and sharp, pointed foliage.Butterflies are also attracted to the fragrant blossoms..

Spanish bayonet has dark green, stiff, dagger-like leaves projecting from thick, trunk-like stems. This evergreen shrub can grow up to 15 feet in height..

The leaves end in sharp, needle-like tips. These spiked leaves have been known to pierce through even thick clothing, so select a planting location away from walkways and areas where people or pets could come into contact with the plant. Properly located, the Spanish Bayonet can provide property security

Fragrant, bell-shaped flowers of Spanish bayonet are white with tinges of light purple, and appear in spring or summer on tall spikes at the center of the plant, high above the foliage.

The blossoms are edible, making a crisp addition to salads raw, or served battered and deep-fried.

Spanish bayonet requires little maintenance; it's highly drought tolerant and once established, requires almost no supplemental irrigation. Spanish bayonet can be incorporated into almost any landscape in Zones 8b-12.

Like its name, this tough bush tolerates drought and salt. Range is from the Florida Peninsula to South Carolina.

Tough Buckthorn, can grow to be a small tree (not likely on dune) has thorns, white flowers and fauna edible fruit.

Saw palmetto is a slow growing, clumping, multi- trunked palm that typically grows 5 to 10 feet tall and spreads 4 to 10 feet wide. There are two basic colors available, green leaves and variable silver to blue-silver types more common on the east coast of Florida.

In the spring, 3-foot-long flower stalks appear, sporting Small yellow-white, fragrant flowers appear in spring on 3-foot-long spikes, which attach bees resulting high-grade saw palmetto honey. Flowers result in small, yellow berries that turn black and ripen August through October.

Saw palmetto is great for wildlife, as the berries are an important food source for many mammals and birds. Claims, denied by the American Cancer Society, that the berries can treat prostate cancer have led to requirements for berry harvesting permits issued by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Division of Plant Industry (DPI).

Salt Tolerance: Moderately salt tolerant Soil or other substrate: Sand, loam

More than 100 bird species, 27 mammals, 25 amphibians, 61 reptiles, and countless insects use it as food and/or cover (Maehr and Layne 1996).

As Maehr and Layne summarize, “If saw palmetto is not the plant species most highly used by Florida wildlife, it certainly is in close contention for that honor.”

Natural Range in Florida USDA Zones: to grow in: 8A,8B,9A,9B,10A,10B,11

Saltbush, also called groundsel tree or sea myrtle, looks like a cloud of white flowers, actually hairs on ripe fruits, hovering about 8 feet off the ground. Saltbush is dioecious, meaning that plants are either male or female, with both plants capable of producing many small flowers in the fall. It is the female saltbush that has showy white flowers that stay for weeks; the male plants have a more yellow bloom. The flowers of female plants are the most stunning, but feathery, wind-dispersed seeds they then produce can be less likeable. The pollen is also problematic, it is a known allergen. And the seeds of saltbush are poisonous to humans if eaten.

However, it is a native plant and the butterflies including monarch (Danaus plexippus) and many other pollinators are supported by its necter.

In South Florida, the leaves will stay on the plant all year; however, in North and Central Florida, saltbush is deciduous. It has a variety of reputations. Ii Texas, it is a range pest. In eastern Canada, it is a very rare (listed) species. In Florida it is just another native plant with a role in its environment

In South Florida, the leaves will stay on the plant all year; however in North and Central Florida, saltbush is deciduous.

This native tree, of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and many of the Caribbean Islands is a moderate grower that can be planted year-round in Zones 8 and 9. Its mature height: 10 to 15 feet, spread: 5 to 10 feet.

Foliage is a simple, oblong, evergreen, glossy dark green on top, pale green underneath. Leaves are arranged opposite/subopposite with bland length of ½ to 2 inches.

It produces greenish flowers in the winter and early spring and a black fruit in the spring and summer that attracts birds.

The bark is gray or brown and smooth, becoming rough with age due to raised lenticels, and turning pale yellow with brown and green intermixed, no thorns.

This plant requires a planting site that receives full sun and a well- drained soil. It grows poorly in mucky soils. Its native, upland coastal habitat associates include bay cedar, Spanish bayonet, cocoplum and other drought and salt tolerant plants. Soils in this habitat are very sandy with shell fragments and a neutral or alkaline pH.