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POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — The Blushing Scrub Balm, a rare plant found only in Polk County, faces potential threats from proposed routes for a new toll road, according to local plant enthusiasts.
“We flag every single individual plant, count every stem,” said Valerie Anderson, with the Florida Native Plant Society.
Anderson and the group take the welfare of Blushing Scrub Balm, also known as Dicerandra Modesta, seriously.
“We conduct annual monitoring on these plants to see how they do year over year,” said Anderson.
The plant, which has a strong mint odor, is only known to exist in nature in the Lake Marion Creek Wildlife Management area near Davenport.
It was discovered less than 20 years ago and is believed to have existed for 10,000 – 20,000 years.
As part of a scrub habitat, it requires fire to thrive.
“If they don’t burn this in the next ten years, this open space here is not going to exist,” said Anderson.
This concern has been echoed by the Florida Native Plant Society, which is worried about the proposed pathways for the Central Polk Parkway East project. This toll road is planned to link State Road 60 with US 17/92, and its proximity to wildlife areas raises environmental issues.
“When a toll road is built near a property, it restricts the number of permissible days for controlled burns. This increases management costs, complicates procedures, and, more crucially, reduces the likelihood of effective management,” Anderson explained.
“We have all our eggs in one basket, so to speak,” said Gene Kelly, president of the Florida Native Plant Society.
Kelly said plants are the “building blocks of habitat.”
“Every species that we lose, it degrades, it diminishes the diversity of native plant habitats,” said Kelly.
Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise has not responded to the concerns.
A public meeting will be held later this year to present the proposed route for the corridor.
The president of Bok Tower Gardens has expressed concerns in the past about how noise from the toll road could impact the popular, serene tourist destination.
