EVERGLADES PLANT DIVERSITY

The plant diversity of the Everglades is dependent on the variety of habitats. As we move from the coast inward we'll explore each habitat's plant life starting with the Mangrove Swamps where the trees arch their roots above the water line. On to the Coastal Prairie which are in and around the Mangrove Swamps...They are areas where hurricanes have destroyed the Mangrove Swamp, changing the type of vegetation that grows there. The Marl Prairie is the place for which the Everglades is named...filled with miles of endless Sawgrass that caused the early explorers to give it such a name. Patches of Tropical Hardwood Hammocks are found through out the Marl Prairies along with Cypress Domes. The last of these habitats is the Pinelands whose very survival depends on fire.

MANGROVE SWAMP

Red Mangrove (Rhizphora mangle) - The arching prop roots <pict> that extend out from the trunk and sometimes from the branches as well make it stand out among vegetation everywhere. The tree is dependent on these roots for survival. This mangrove usually grows on the water's edge where the constant moving water and weather is the harshest. The soil it grows in is almost always covered with water. To deal with its saturated environment the tree has lenticels, which are small breathing pores, on its prop roots . The Red Mangroves favorite environment is in an estuary, where the fresh water of the inland and the salt water of the sea mix together. These mangroves deal with the high salt content in the water by screening the water and not allowing the salt to enter the roots at all. This tree has another unique adaptation to its watery world...The way it spreads its seeds. The mangrove seed starts to grow while it is still on the tree. As it grows it sends a small spike downward. When the seed drops it spears into the ground and begins it's life.

Black Mangrove (Avicennia germinans) - This tress also lives in saturated soil and to adapt to this the roots, which are buried beneath the water and soil, send up small, foot-tall extensions called pneumatophores that help the plant breath (exchange gases). Where ever these trees are found the swamp floor is covered with the pneumatophores <pict>. Since the black mangrove lives where there is a high salt content in the water it has adapted by bringing the salt in and then excreting it through its leaves. A good way to see if a tree is a Black Mangrove, apart from the pneumatophores, is to lick its leaves to taste the salt.

White Mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) - This tree also lives in salty, saturated conditions although not as harsh an area as the other mangrove trees. It's adaptation is two small glands on either side of the petiole or on the stem near the base of the leaf. The white mangrove, in extreme conditions, will produce pneumatophores and prop roots like it cousins but this isn't a common occurrence.

MARL PRAIRIE

Sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) - Sawgrass is actually not a grass at all but it is in the sedge family. It is a very tough plant lined with upward pointing teeth which could viciously scratch even the toughest biology student <see picts...>. Each leaf is in a very stiff “V” shape down it's middle. Because of these tough characteristics the Sawgrass has few enemies. There are a few however and these include: fire when too dry, downing when to wet, and animals eating the fragile seeds.

TROPICAL HARDWOOD HAMMOCK

Strangler Fig (Ficus aurea) - The strangler fig is one of the most fascinating trees one will encounter. The trees berry-like seeds are eaten by birds and then distributed through the bird's droppings sometimes landing in high tree tops. Anywhere that there is enough moisture the fig will begin to grow whether on the ground or in a tree. The seedling sends thin roots down to the soil wrapping around the host tree. Once in the soil the roots thicken, cramping and preventing growth of the host tree <see pict>. The Strangler Fig develops a huge canopy of leaves blocking sunlight from its host. Eventually the host will die, slowly decompose and all that will be left is the skeleton root system of the fig tree. The Strangler Fig is an epiphyte even though the host dies. It grows on the host without taking any of the host's nutrients.

West Indian Mahogany (Swietenia mahogani) - When you hear that something is made from mahogany wood it probably came from this tree. For this reason these beautiful giants are scarce. The tree has dark, furrowed bark. It produces a large green fruit and seeds with a papery wing which is dispersed by the wind. This tree can grow up to four feet across and seemingly never ending in height. <click here to see the fruit>

Florida Royal Palm (Roystonea elata) - These are the tallest of the palms growing between fifty and a hundred feet tall. Rare in the everglades and found mostly planted in towns. The tree has gray bark and "feather-shaped" leaves that can grow ten to twelve feet long.

Cabbage Palm (Sabal Palmetto) - This palm can reach heights of eighty feet. The trunk is covered with old leaf bases and its leaves arch back and fan out.

Gumbo Limbo (Bursera simaruba) - The bark is very smooth and bright orange and green <see pict> and the leaves a shiny oval.

Poisonwood (Metpium toxiferum) - This tree is in the same family as poison ivy and like poison ivy it can cause the same disturbing skin rash. The bark is reddish brown with and orange underbark. The bark and leaves are sometimes stained by black pitch from the tree. The leaves have three to seven leaflets and the fruit is orange. <see pict>

Inkwood (Exothea paniculata) - The leaves <see pict> of this tree are dark and come in sets of four leaflets.

PINELANDS

Slash Pine (Pinus elliotii) - A tall and very scrawny pine <see picts!> which got its name from the slashes that were made to collect the sap used in the making of turpentine. The wood is very hard do to the build up of resins. This is an unusual trait in pines and because of that it is sometimes used in the making of houses because of its high resistance to termites. It is also used in the paper industry where large numbers of acres are planted just for the paper making purpose. The needles of the Slash Pine are long and the branches start more than twenty feet off the ground. The bark is very thick and made of many tightly packed layers. These characteristics give the Slash Pine a high resistance to fire, an extremely important factor in the Pinelands survival.

Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens) - The trunks grow diagonal and sometimes parallel to the ground and are covered with old leaf bases. The leaf stems are covered with upward pointing teeth that make the Saw Grass teeth very small in comparison. This makes walking among them very difficult. The Saw Palmetto also has a high resistance to fire. The Pineland plants depend on fire to keep other invading plants out. <nice pict of Saw Palmetto>

COASTAL PRAIRIE

Glasswort (Salicornia europaea) -A jointed, leafless succulent that is light green <see pict> in the summer and red in the fall. It grows thick in coastal saltmarshes. Glasswort is very edible, its tender stems can be added to salads. But you shouldn't pick anything in a national park :-P.

Pickrelweed (Batis) - An aquatic plant that grows in shallow water. It has a thick, fleshy stem, arrow shaped leaves, and flowers a blue spike in spring through late fall.

CYPRESS DOMES OR HEADS

Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) - The Bald Cypress may grow to reach heights of a hundred and twenty-five feet tall but in the Cypress Domes <see pict.> they rarely grow taller than twenty-five feet tall. They grow primarily in freshwater swamps. The bark is pale brown and sheds in strips and the leaves are a light green and soft. They produce "knees" <see pict... use imagination :)> as an adaptation to the satuated soil. Knees are protrusions of the roots above ground which can be as tall as six feet and look like sawed-off trees which have healed over.

EPIPHYTES

Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants without taking valuable nutrients from the host it is living on (not parasitic). Sometimes they live high up off the ground so they collect water and nutrients in modified leaves. The epiphytes in the everglades include bromeliads, orchids, and some ferns.

Bromeliads - The bromeliad is a part of the pineapple family. The two most common in Florida are: the Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) a wispy plant with long gray-green strands that hangs from trees to telephone poles. And Stiff-leaved wild pine (Tillandsia fasciculata) who's leaves can get to three feet in length and small white flowers enclosed in bright red bracts bloom from January through summer. <click here for picts (4)>

Orchids - The Orchid is one of the most fascinating and diverse plants in the world. There are about one hundred species of orchid in Florida and twenty thousand world wide. The Butterfly Orchid (Encyclia tampensis) is the most common in the Everglades.

EXOTICS

Melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia) - This tree originated in Australia and found its way over to southern Florida where it is restricted because of its intolerance to cold weather. It also has a high tolerance of fire and makes buring difficult. Melaleuca is taking over many habitats including Sawgrass marshes and wetlands where the water levels are low because of drainage. Melaleuca is spreading in from both coasts upsetting the natural balance of life in the Everglades. In about twenty five years a marsh can become a forest of strictly Melaleuca. No one knows if the Melaleuca can be stopped from completely taking over. Some ecologist believe that this is the Everglades biggest threat.

Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius) - The second most dangerous exotic is this small tree from South America. It was originally brought over as an ornamental but quickly spread through out southern Florida. Small forests of Brazilian pepper have completely spoiled the feeding habitats for many birds.