Bejaria (Befaria) racemosa

Bejaria racemosa, the tarflower, is one of the odd and lovely surprises of the Florida scrub, a heath-family shrub that looks nothing like the rest of the clan. Where blueberries and azaleas carry small, fused, bell-shaped blooms, tarflower opens wide flowers of seven separate petals, white to soft pink and sweetly fragrant, held in loose summer racemes. The genus honors the eighteenth-century Spanish botanist Jose Bejar, and though older books spell the name Befaria, botanists have since settled on Bejaria.

The common names tarflower and flycatcher come from the plant's strangest habit. The buds, young twigs, and flowers are coated in a sticky, resinous film that catches small insects like flypaper, and whether the shrub draws any nourishment from the trapped visitors or simply fends off nectar thieves is a question botanists still debate. Either way, the large native bees strong enough to work the blooms pass freely, doing the real business of pollination while ants and small flies stay stuck at the door.

Tarflower belongs to the fire-shaped scrub and sandy pine flatwoods of Florida and the neighboring Deep South, thriving on lean, acid sand where richer soil and standing water would spell trouble. Like the blueberries and azaleas nearby, the plant depends on sharp drainage and an acid root run, and repays those conditions with fragrant summer flowers and a quietly picturesque, often twisting form. Bees, butterflies, and at least one native moth make use of the plant through the season.

Seldom offered in the trade and famously particular about transplanting, tarflower is a collector's shrub and a conversation piece for the native, xeric, or pollinator garden. Give Bejaria racemosa full sun to light shade and very sandy, sharply drained, acid soil, and resist the urge to pamper the roots. Sited well, this uncommon Florida native rewards the patient gardener with sticky, seven-petaled, honey-scented flowers found on nothing else in the border.