Martin County, FL Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

The list sits in Article 4, Division 15 (Landscaping, Buffering and Tree Protection) of the Martin County Land Development Regulations, at LDR Sec. 3. It bars new planting of melaleuca, Brazilian pepper, Australian pine, carrotwood, catclaw mimosa, earleaf acacia, most eucalyptus species and silk oak countywide, plus ficus trees within 50 feet of a public street right-of-way, street pavement, utility easement or septic drainfield. Where any of these species already grow on a parcel, LDR Sec. a requires their removal as a condition of development approval, meaning a builder cannot get a certificate of occupancy under LDR Sec.

B until the invasive plants are gone. The Board of County Commissioners has separately adopted, by resolution under Sec. b, an additional prohibited-species list limited to sterile hybrids and cultivars, and that removal is likewise a condition of approval on new development and on amendments to existing final site plans, to the degree feasible as determined by the approving Growth Management Department staff. Single-family and duplex homeowners are exempt from most of Division 15's landscaping rules, but LDR Sec. 1 specifically carves that exemption out for Sec.

3: even a single-family lot must remove prohibited species listed there. Simple removal of exotic vegetation, without new construction, does not itself trigger a landscape plan requirement, since Sec. 3 exempts removal of exotic, dead or diseased vegetation from the division's plan-submission process. The rule applies only within the unincorporated county; Stuart, Sewall's Point, Ocean Breeze Park and Jupiter Island run their own land development codes.