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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI14090861/00001
Notes
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Seagrape 1
Length of Segment: 00:01:15
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. The seagrape is a popular evergreen tree native to South Florida and the Caribbean. It's not related to grapes, but gets its name from the appearance of purple fruits that are produced in grape-like clusters, and the fruits of seagrapes are edible. Seagrapes can be eaten straight from the tree and have a musky, tart, sweet flavor, but they're best when used in making jelly. While usually only reaching about 30 feet in height, some can grow to 50 feet. Seagrape trees are stout and spreading when protected from wind, but often take on a dwarfed appearance in open beach habitats. They're salt-tolerant and thus do well in seaside habitats. Seagrapes are evergreen with large, heavy, rounded, red-veined leaves that have given them the local name, 'platter leaf'. These leaves are constantly falling -- thus, seagrapes are sometimes viewed as messy in manicured landscapes. On the other hand, seagrapes are tough trees that tolerate pruning to the extent that it can be managed as a hedge. Because seagrape is native and produces an abundance of fruit, it's attractive to native birds and other animals and is a great choice for natural landscaping. ( English )
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Seagrape 2
Length of Segment: 00:01:14
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Seagrape is a common native tree of South Florida and Caribbean landscapes, but it's now also used in landscaping in tropical and sub-tropical areas from Arizona and Hawaii through Latin America. While seagrapes thrive in salty, sandy habitats and under drought conditions, they’re intolerant of shade and cold and seedlings can be crowded out by grasses and other vegetation, thus limiting their occurrence northward and away from coastal regions. Each seagrape tree is either male or female -- thus, at least two trees are needed for reproduction. Only female trees produce the characteristic grape-like clusters of fruit. Flowering can occur throughout the year, but is most common in spring and early summer. The small, fragrant, greenish-white flowers grow in long clusters and are pollinated by bees and other insects. On the females, these flowers become clusters of egg-shaped purple fruits within about two months. Inside each nearly one inch long fruit is a hard half inch long seed. Birds that eat these fruits help disperse the seeds. ( English )
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Seagrape 3
Length of Segment: 00:01:15
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. The seagrape tree is known for its landscape values including use as a hedge in coastal environments. But it's also known for the fine jellies and unique wine that can be made from its fruit. Seagrape also has many other values. Throughout its range, the wood of seagrape has been used for firewood and for producing charcoal -- practices that continue today in the West Indies. While not a tree known for producing straight 2 by 4s, the reddish to dark-brown hard wood of large seagrape is hard and fine grained and has been used in making decorative furniture and cabinets. Flowers of seagrape are attractive to honeybees and the honey produced from seagrape nectar is light in color, has a unique spicy flavor, and is considered exceptional. Cut into the bark of a seagrape and it exudes a red sap that has been used for tanning leather and as a natural dye. The dye is usually produced by boiling bits of the wood. The roots and bark of seagrape have some astringent properties, and concoctions made from them have been used in the Caribbean to treat sore throat and dysentery. ( English )
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Seagrape 4
Length of Segment: 00:01:15
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Following rain, our lawns are sometimes dotted with small white mushrooms that seem to have no stem and are round to pear-shaped, white, and covered with a rough surface, almost reminiscent of a golf ball. Within days, these marble-sized to lemon-sized mushrooms turn brown, and when the brown ones are stepped on, they seem to give off a puff of smoke or dust. It's this puff that gives these mushrooms their name: 'puffballs'. The puff isn't smoke or dust; it's the puffball's means of reproducing, thousands of tiny spores to be carried on the wind, each capable of growing into a new puffball. Puffballs are among the easiest of mushrooms to identify because of their lack of a stem and their rounded to pear-shaped form. They're edible when fresh, but become undesirable as tiny worms take advantage of their nutrients. Puffballs also do no harm to your lawn, they're simply taking advantage of nutrients in the soil. The tiny white puffball that is most common in Florida is known as Lycoperdon, which literally means 'wolf breaks wind', named by a scientist with a sense of humor for the odor produced when the spores are released. ( English )
Record Information
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- Added automatically
- Holding Location:
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- Rights Management:
- Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the users responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.
- Resource Identifier:
- FI00900194
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