Eryngium baldwinii (Baldwin’s Eryngo)

Description

Rare native groundcover is covered with exquisite blue flowers from spring to fall attracting butterflies, native bees and beneficial insects. It is a larval host of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly. According to Florida ethnobotanist, Steve Austin, this species was used as a breath freshener and aphrodasiac. To see images and read more of this plant click here https://flawildflowers.org/flower-friday-eryngium-baldwinii/  They taste like parsley. We propagated our plants from a few small populations that I found in Beaufort County, SC. All of the sites were adjacent to the roadside and were vulnerable to construction and herbicide spraying.  The areas were subject to periodic wetness, mowing and severe compaction. It is not been cultivated by anyone else, but it has thrived in the nursery. I think it has wonderful potential as a groundcover. The species was not previously known to occur northeast of Atkinson Co., GA. (Atkinson Co, borders Florida).

Native to SC, GA, and FL.