Email and Photos from Skip and Jane

Skip and Jane Blanchard joined us for the first three days of our trip. We miss these longtime members who moved to Florida several years ago and it was wonderful to be in their company again. They sent the following email and photos after returning home:

Our trip home to Gainesville was uneventful, and we arrived exactly at 6 pm. As it was April 1, and as we were passing through Perry en route, we briefly toyed with the idea of stopping at the motel and attempting to persuade the person at the desk to tell the group that they had no record of reservations for 16 people from LIBS. Fearing rampant cardiac consequences, however, we simply briefly toyed with the idea.

 

It was great to spend time with all of you. Have a great rest of your trip.

Skip & Jane

P.S. We're enjoying the blog.

P.P.S. Yep, definitely a rough green snake. No smooth green snakes in Florida.

P.P.P.S. Salamander may have been a four-toed. Still working on it. (Does anyone have a photo that shows the diagnostic four toes instead of five on the hind foot?)

P.P.P.P.S. Pink and yellow moth at Sumatra rest stop was rosy maple moth (Dryocampa rubicunda) NOT evening primrose moth. Oops!

P.P.P.P.P.S. Please share this message if you can.

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Sorry about all the postscripts.

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