Thank you to Marc Spiess for leading a yard visit at the Environmental Learning Center on Thursday, May 18. The Bahama wild coffee (Psychotria ligustifolia) planted last year along Live Oak Drive was full of flowers and was abuzz with pollinators, including a European honeybee and wasp pictured below …
Bahama wild coffee is native to Date County and is listed as endangered. It grows well in Indian River County.
We saw it in the yard of Fran Robinson in 2017 …
… and in 2021 after the plant had “filled in” ….
Bahama wild coffee naturally maintains an attractive round shape and, even underneath an oak tree in filter shade, is compact and full of flowers.
It is shown below at the ELC with silver-blue saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) and native grasses ….
Though not native to Indian River County, Bahama wild coffee makes an excellent landscape plant for partial shade or full sun. Its flowers attract all sorts of pollinators, and birds and other wildlife consume & spread the red fruits.
ircnativeplants.org 