Florida is fortunate to have plenty of variety of native flora and fauna which enjoy the climate.

But there are plenty of non-native species which have taken to that same climate and now thrive.

One such plant is enemy number one in one oceanside city and residents are being asked to help get rid of it.

Plenty of things look like they belong in Florida; but much of our wildlife originated in another part of the world.

You may have seen armadillos around -- they are actually from Central and South America.

Just like the plant you can sometimes catch them rooting under: the Brazilian pepper plant.

In Flagler Beach, both the armadillos, and Brazilian pepper plant are everywhere.

“The canopy spreads and it chokes out the native vegetation,” said Flagler Beach Public Works Director Bob Smith.

The city has tried its best to control the spread, but it's difficult. The plants can grow upwards of 10 feet a year.

Which is why they're asking residents to work on their own property.

If people in town drop off their Brazilian pepper plant remains at this site next to the police department, the city will haul it off.

For many people, they can't just go in and pull the plant out. That would be too easy. That's because many people have an allergic reaction to the Brazilian pepper.

“You have to wear protection; skin protection, gloves, long sleeves, pants when you're working with this stuff,” said Samantha Welsh, garden manager.

Brazilian pepper is in the same family as poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac.

Welsh, a former park ranger with the Guana Tolomato National Estuarine Research Reserve has helped remove her fair share of Brazilian pepper.

Eradication may not be possible now.

It's been growing in the state since the 1890s and it can be a frustrating fight.

“If everybody maintains their yards and the city maintains the property right away, things like that, we can control it in those areas,” added Smith.

“Even with the treatments that you do with it, you go back in the next few months and you still see new sprouts,” said Welsh.

The Brazilian pepper drop-off program in Flagler Beach runs through September.

For more information on Brazilian pepper plant, and how to combat the invasive plant, you can view or download a PDF from the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council here.