Corkscrew Swamp Photos

John Heidecker just sent in a couple photos he took while with us on the boardwalk today at Corkscrew Swamp:

Red lady's-tresses is an orchid (I'll post the scientific name when I get to it).

And "air plants" also need a name---Eric--can you post a comment providing identification?? Thanks.

Our last group photo

By a Royal Palm along the tram line in the Fakahatchee Strand. Photo by John Heidecker.

Fakahatchee

Today, park biologist Mike Owen guided us through a dense, sub-tropical pop ash-pond apple slough at Fakahatchee Strand and showed us 9 species of epiphytic orchids (see photo of Epidendrum amphistomum), and 8 species of bromeliads (including the delicate fuzzy-wuzzy air plant, Tillandsia pruinosa).

Day 6

We spent the day in the shell mound vegetation of Ding Darling Preserve. Here is our guide, George Wilder, showing us the difference between myrsine (Rapanea puncata) and island marlberry (Ardisia escallonoides).

A Rare Find!

Sunday morning, right in back of our hotel in Sebring, we discovered three federally endangered species, not previously known from this locality.

Calamintha ashei (Ashe's calamint), Polygonella myriophylla (Small's jointweed), and Hypericum cumulicola (highlands scrub St. Johnswort).

Calamintha ashei

At Highland Hammock

Day 3

It was a long day of driving from Perry to Sebring.

But on the way, we stopped for a couple of hours at Fanning Springs State Park where we were greeted by what some of us thought was a friendly little tribe of Druids, emerging from under the cypress trees (see photo).

And we enjoyed Kathy's demonstration of a unique characteristic of Cornus (dogwood). When the leaf blade is carefully torn, xylem elements in the veins can be drawn out between the two halves, like a very fine thread.

Our 1st orchid

At a bog in Apalachicola National Forest, among pitcher plants and sundews, we found Calopogon barbatus, bearded grasspink. These dime-sized hot-pink flowers have a shocking yellow lip and are only seen in the spring, in sites that have recently been burned.

Group Photo

Days 1 & 2

"Botanize till we drop" summarizes our past two days. Our days begin slightly after sunrise and set with the sun. Yesterday, we spent the day at Torreya State Park and were most fortunate to have Wilson Baker as our guide; he identified every plant we saw, including the last few remaining wild individuals of the rare Torreya taxifolia. Today, LIBS member Ann Johnson guided us through "her bog" in Appalachicola Nat'l Forest, where we saw four flowering species of carnivorous butterworts (including the federal endangered Panhandle Butterwort, Pinguicula ionantha), among dozens of other spring wildflowers. Three of us had a close encounter with an eastern cottonmouth snake (see photo).

Sop.choppy

Just crossed the sop choppy river