Cool Plants Page

Plant Coloring Pages

Click on each plant’s name to see a photo of the plant. Go to Plant Coloring Pages to print out a plant drawing. You can color it to match the photo.

Plant of the Month

Wild Poinsettia – (Poinsettia cyanthophora) -This plant is what we used to create the very colorful poinsettias available in stores today. The red parts are actually leaves, while the tiny yellowish balls in the center are flowers. Butterflies love wild poinsettias as a nectar source in the winter. WATCH OUT for this plant – it’s poisonous if you eat it! It can be dangerous for your pets too.

Mistletoe (Phoradendron piperoides) – This wild parasite usually grows on oak trees. It’s easiest to see in the winter, when the large trees are losing some of their leaves. The mistletoe looks like a big dark green ball way up in the tree. Mistletoe makes its own food from the sun, but steals nutrients and water from the tree it is growing on. (It’s called a parasite because it steals.) Mistletoe has white berries – and WATCH OUT – they’re poisonous if you eat them. But birds love to eat mistletoe berries. After they eat them, they spread the mistletoe seeds in their droppings onto another tree. Legend says that if you stand under a mistletoe plant with another person, you have to kiss them!

Other Cool Pelotes Island Plants

Poison Ivy – (Rhus radicans) - This 3 leaf plant can grow into a vine we call poison ivy, or a shrub we call poison oak, depending on the habitat it is growing in! Its berries provide an excellent food source for birds and rabbits. Poison Ivy doesn’t bother them at all. But WATCH OUT! It causes an itchy rash on most people who touch it, and the berries are very poisonous to people. When the vines grow large, they have many rootlets that make the vine look hairy. Even these rootlets can give you a rash. If you accidentally burn poison ivy in a campfire, the smoke will give you poison ivy in your lungs – that’s bad news! Never touch poison ivy, and remember… If I have 3 leaves, don’t mess with me! AND

Always be wary of a vine that’s hairy!

Stinging Nettle or Tread Softly Nettle – (Cnidoscolus stimulosus) - This plant has raggedy looking leaves and tiny white flowers. Butterflies get nectar from the flowers, and tortoises love to eat the leaves. But WATCH OUT! This plant can really hurt you. Its stems are covered with tiny spines. Even the leaves and flowers have little spines. Each spine is filled with formic acid, the same thing in an ant sting. Ouch! If you touch this plant, it will feel like your hand is on fire for 5-30 minutes.

Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) – This small tree has small dark green leaves that it keeps all year. In the spring it has tiny white and yellow flowers. The boy plants make flowers, but no berries. The girl plants have lots of bright red berries. Bees get nectar from the flowers, and birds love the berries, but WATCH OUT – the berries are poisonous to people. (To find out how the Timucua Indians used this plant in a ceremony, click here.)