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.