Jupiter, FL Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Town Code § 26-125(a) bars planting, maintaining or allowing to remain any plant species the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council classifies as a Category I nuisance or invasive exotic on sites receiving site plan approval, including small-scale developments, and bans the sale of those species anywhere in town outright. Removal of banned species is handled alongside proposed land clearing under site plan approval, unless the director of planning and zoning determines removal independently serves the chapter's purpose; clearing inside protected preservation or environmentally sensitive areas instead follows the § 26-151 vegetation-removal-permit procedures.

Subsection (b) adds five species to the ban beyond the Council's own list because of cold intolerance, invasive root growth into water and sewer lines, or inability to withstand high winds: nearly all Ficus species (aurea, citrifolia, repens, rubiginosa, pumila and macrophylla are exempted, and Ficus benjamina is allowed only as a single-family hedge capped at six feet), Norfolk Island Pine, Silk Oak, Black Olive and Eucalyptus of any species. Section 23-97(a)(2) exempts these nuisance and exotic species from the chapter's normal pruning limits precisely because the goal is removal, not maintenance, and § 23-66(45) requires every landscape plan to show removal of unprotected or prohibited species under § 26-125 before it can be approved.