Families, Parks and Recreation

On Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 9 a.m. the City of Orlando will be collaborating with Bok Tower Gardens to reintroduce the endangered Scrub Lupine plant at the City’s Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake. More than 400 Scrub Lupines will be planted at this park, which is an instrumental site in the work to save the Lupine plant due to the native sand in open areas necessary for the plant to thrive. The presence of these plants will enable future visitors to learn more about this endangered plant and its role in Orlando’s environment.

Scrub Lupine is endemic to the Winter Haven and Mount Dora Ridges in Central Florida. From 45 documented populations prior to 2002, only 10 remained by 2003 and merely eight by 2008. Commercial and residential development has replaced Scrub Lupine populations, their scrub habitat, and the community of species with which they coexist. The rare Scrub Lupine, Lupinus westianus var. aridorum, was first observed at Bill Frederick Park in 1989 but has not been observed there since 1998. Bok Tower Gardens has worked with the City’s Families, Parks and Recreation Department to determine that a population reintroduction will likely be successful.

In 2008, the Rare Plant Conservation Program at Bok Tower Gardens received a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help fund a project designed to save the Scrub Lupine from extinction. The project is focus on the conservation of all remaining plants of this species, the development of successful propagation methods, and the establishment of genetically diverse populations at protected sites. Through an integrated conservation program of propagation, reintroduction, monitoring and management, Bok Tower Gardens has helped to conserve 38 rare Central and North Florida plant species, part of the National Collection of endangered and threatened plants.

For more information, call 407.246.4486 or visit www.cityoforlando.net/fpr.