USF Botanical GardensTrail Map

The USF Botanical Gardens offers a variety of gardens and habitat types through which to stroll. The trail begins at the parking area. Current collections include: fruit trees and palms from around the world, temperate forest, carnivorous plants, tropical and subtropical trees and shrubs, as well as plant species found in Florida's upland habitats.

Please be mindful of the following: Flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves and plants should be left for all to enjoy. Supervise children closely, especially near water. Do not swim, wade, or fish in the lake or ponds. Please respect the privacy and quiet of others. Dogs must be leashed and their droppings must be removed. Watch your step. Place trash in proper receptacles. Respect and enjoy the Gardens.

Place your cursor over a garden area for more information.

Bromeliad Garden
Planted and maintained by loyal volunteers, the Bromeliad Garden is located in the center bed surrounded by the Garden's driveway. This family of plants includes the pineapple (Ananas comosa) and epiphytes or air plants, such as Spanish moss (Tillandsia usenoides) and ball moss (T. recurvata). In the Bromeliad Garden, one will find a variety of cultivated genera, such as Aechmea, Bromelia, Guzmania, Neoregelia and Vriesea. Bromeliads are grown mostly for their handsome foliage and showy inflorescences. The flowers are abundant nearly all year long and are visited by pollinators such as butterflies and hummingbirds.

Butterfly Garden
On warm sunny afternoons, this flower garden is often mobbed with butterflies in search of nectar and a place to lay their eggs. Monarch, zebra longwing, Gulf fritillary and several species of swallowtail butterflies are frequent visitors here. The showy flowers of scarlet milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), tropical sage (Salvia coccinea), butterfly bush (Buddleja spp.) and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp.) and many other nectar plants attract them. Scarlet milkweed and swamp milkweed (Asclepias perennis) also serve as larval food plants. The Butterfly Garden is a recent addition to the Botanical Garden and was made possible by the generosity of several local businesses including: Matt Stone Company, Consolidated Resource Recovery, Riverview Flower Farms, and Robbins Manufacturing.

Flowering Trees and Shrubs
Heralding the arrival of spring after the dry winter, the trumpet tree (Tabebuia chrysotricha and T. heterophylla) show off their spectacular blooms of yellow and pink. The trumpet trees are among the showiest flowering trees in the New World subtropics and tropics. As you stroll through the Botanical Garden, look for other flowering trees and shrubs. One of the most spectacular winter-bloomers is the floss silk tree (Chorisia speciosa), planted near the Elizabeth W. Johnson Plant Shop.

Shade Garden
Shady and quiet, this is a lovely spot to sit or stroll and enjoy gingers, begonias, ferns and other shade-loving plants. The ginger collection includes shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) native to eastern Asia, spiral gingers (Costus spp.), shell gingers (Hedychium spp.),and the groundcover peacock gingers (Kaempferia spp.). Adding color in the shade of the large trees are glory-bower (Clerodendrum spp.), king's mantle (Thunbergia erecta), and shrimp plants (Justicia brandegeana). This Garden also offers colorful foliage and flowers with a variety of begonias, Maranta, Calathea, and aroids.

Carnivorous Plants
This display includes pitcher plants (Sarracenia spp.), Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula), sundews (Drosera spp.) and butterworts (Pinguicula spp.). These "meat eating" plants have evolved different methods for trapping and digesting insects. Pitcher plants have modified vase-shaped leaves that are filled with an enzyme-rich solution. Insects often fall into these "pitchers" and drown. As they decompose in the fluid, the plant absorbs the nutrients from their bodies. Sundews and butterworts capture insects with sticky glands on their leaves and the Venus flytraps have jaw-like leaves that can close on their prey. By trapping and digesting insects, these carnivorous plants are able to acquire the nitrogen they need to survive, but cannot be obtained in the nutrient-poor bogs where they grow. Carnivorous plants have become rare as fire, drainage, development and horticultural collection increasingly effect their wetland habitat.

At the Water's Edge
Technically a storm water retention pond, Lake Behnke sits on the northwestern edge of the Garden with the College of Medicine and the Shriner's Children's Hospital to the north and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard to the west. This body of water is host to a myriad of wildlife. Alligators, fish, turtles, and waterfowl, such as egrets, herons, and ducks can be spotted on any day. Osprey hunt the waters for their daily catch. Pond and bald cypress (Taxodium ascendens and T. ditichum, respectively), willows, and other lowland species grow along the water's edge. The Wetland Forest area of the Garden hosts plant species that - can tolerate the periodic flooding common in Florida's rainy summer months.