The Railroad Vine, Ipomoea pes-caprae, at North Peninsula State Park; 08 September 2013

Ipomoea pes-caprae, the Railroad vine (Beach morning glory), photographed in Volusia county, Florida (08 September 2013).

After a fairly frustrating Day in the Real World, I’m happy to be writing this post. Why? Because it’s sand dune time on Dust Tracks! That’s right, we’re about to walk through the warm, golden sands of North Peninsula State Park in Ormond-by-the-Sea, Florida and check out a number of common plant species you’ll often find growing on the sand dunes of eastern central Florida. These remarkable plants are each adapted to live along the edge of the ocean. The “soil” is usually beach sand, of course. They are each adapted to thriving with plenty of salt in the air and salt in the water, and they are largely responsible for maintaining the structural integrity of the dunes they grow upon.

Yeah, if you want to kill off a beach dune complex and accelerate coastal erosion, the quickest, most-efficient way to do so is to pick at and disturb these fascinating plants. They are often the one thing holding the tidal surges of oceanic erosion at bay from human development. And yet, people being people, we often trample these plants, as we often do each other. We step on them, we pluck and poke at them, we tear them down with reckless abandon… and then we shout and cry when a hurricane levels an entire acre of sand dune in one fell swoop, or when a condo development succumbs to the always-more-powerful-than-us force of the Atlantic ocean in tropical turmoil. These plants are well worth understanding, celebrating, honoring, and preserving. They’re also quite lovely, which I like.

So, to kick us off, here is the Railroad vine (also generally known as Beach morning glory and/or the Goat’s foot), Ipomoea pes-caprae. This plant doesn’t grow up or down so much as it grows out and across:

As you can see, the Railroad vine earns its name because it essentially lays track upon the beach sand. Rooting pretty much anywhere on the dune structure, The Railroad vine’s long runners (the tracks, if you will) reach far out over the open beach, as if reaching for the ocean itself. Homebase, however, is the dune itself. In some cases, the Railroad vine can actually be an agent of dune formation. At the very least, it is often among the first plant species to grow upon (and thus bolster) a sand dune’s formation and eventual tightening.

Ipomoea pes-caprae is a member of Family Convolvulaceae, the Bindweed family. Bindweeds are, in turn, members of Order Solanales of the Angiosperms division. This means Railroad vines are, as all Angiosperms are, flowering plants. With this railroad, you also get flowers. Awesome pink flowers:

Down south a bit in Daytona, you won’t see as much Railroad vine reaching out beyond what remains of the sand dunes. Most of the dunes in and around Daytona proper have been beaten down and destroyed by the grind of development and the mashing of human feet. But up here in Ormond-by-the-Sea…? Oh yes, we still have plenty of dune habitat remaining, even with A1A passing right by the beach.

Because Ormond-by-the-Sea is far less developed than its neighboring communities to the south, you’re far more likely to see not only Railroad vine, but also protected sea turtle nests (featured below). Tourists are (understandably) far more likely to notice the protected sea turtle nests than they are the tracks of Railroad vine. I wonder, though… How many people have photographed a sea turtle nest and then later wondered what that big, long vine was running past and beyond the nest, seemingly anticipating the forthcoming baby turtles’ mad dash to the ocean surf, pointing the way home?

Next on Dust Tracks: More seaside plant glory!

~ janson