Mahogany Hammock Trail at Everglades National Park (2007)
Let’s travel back to Florida and less depressing things like losing a state park—because nature continues on even while we fight to save it. I actually remember very little about this trail. I can recall part of the boardwalk and that there were mosquitoes but I don’t recall seeing some of these plants!
The peeling skin-like bark of a gumbo limbo tree, Bursera simaruba
The fruits of a Florida strangler fig, Ficus aurea
A nurse log filled with long strapferns, Campyloneurum phyllitidis…a common scene in many swampy hammocks in south Florida.
An orchid that has died, probably a butterfly orchid.
Hammock viper’s-tail, Pentalinon luteum. This is one of the plants I didn’t remember and when I saw the photo of it I thought it was the non-native allamanda. Which makes sense because they are both in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae!
Sweet acacia, Vachellia farnesiana
A tiny little orchid, possibly a night-scented orchid, Epidendrum nocturnum
A little non-native brown anole, Anolis sagrei
Look up and you’ll find a canopy of bromeliads!
And finally, a muscadine grape leaf with some fungal damage going on.
One Comment
shoreacres
What a neat place! When I saw your Pentalinon luteum it reminded me of my first sighting of our fringed puccoon last weekend, down near Palacios. I didn’t see any evidence of huisache budding, but the mesquite are looking gorgeous, with that delicate green that characterizes their first leaves.