Winter Ramble in a Florida Woodland

Today's lovely walk was a ~3-mile stroll in and around a 550+ acre complex of woodlands and abandoned pastures and farmlands NW of Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. County development review staff is currently reviewing phases of a 999-unit subdivision to be built over the next decade or so. This is the second largest housing development to come to this area. [Click on images below for a larger view of same.]

Protected gopher tortoises abound in open areas of the property. The developer has set aside and fenced in 45 acres of prime tortoise habitat, into which the residents of this site will be relocated during construction. The lucky fellow on the left was stranded in the bottom of a deep (25-30 feet) karst chimney when we arrived, having fallen in during his peregrinations in search of food. He was rescued with the help of a bucket truck and an intrepid helper who rappelled into the hole from the lowered bucket.


The moss-covered arms of a Florida Live Oak (Quercus virginiana). The brilliant green moss is truly a moss. The gray stringy epiphyte known as Spanish Moss, is not a moss at all. It is, in fact a member of the bromeliad family, of which the pineapple is the fruit of the most recognized species. How does the Spanish Moss get up in the trees? The tiny seeds are furnished with a long tuft of dry hairs like seeds of dandelion or milkweed. They waft long distances in the wind and become snagged on the rough bark of trees, where they germinate. Does the moss hurt the tree? No, although when wet it contributes a good deal of extra weight to the branches, and amplifies the "sail effect" during strong winds. Spanish Moss is not parasitic. It derives all nutrients and water from the air, dirt and debris on the tree bark, and from dew and the rain.



Corky thorn-covered bark on the lower trunk of a toothache tree, a.k.a "Hercules Club". This tree is in the citrus family with its more recognizable cousins the oranges, lemons, etc. Chew the tart leaves and your mouth and gums go quite uncomfortably numb. The tree prefers open, sunny, dry, sandy upland areas, and is common in old pastures, and along fencelines around old pastures (the seeds "planted" by birds "sitting" on the wires). They're also encountered hanging on unhappily in wooded areas where abandoned pastures and farmlands have been allowed to return to woodland, most commonly populated by the aggressive and weedy laurel oak.







Young Sabal palmetto fronds and branch of a sand live oak. One commonly encounters palmettos beneath oaks in the forested areas of north central Florida. Birds roosting in the oak tree expel the pencil-eraser-sized palmetto seeds onto the ground below, where a few germinate and survive. It is not uncommon to find a veritable thicket of young palmettos beneath oak trees, especially in actively farmed or pastured areas where perches are more or less at a premium, at least locally.










Sabal palmetto. This is the state tree of Florida. You may have seen it's faithful likeness on the verso of the South Carolina quarter dollar. This tree cries "Old Florida" like no other tree. It is my favorite tree, especially in open habitats like this recently abandoned pasture, sandhill communities, and especially though rarely along open shorelines of certain lakes in this area, where the rich morning and afternoon light bathes them in their most vivid and photogenic glory. Some of this particular tree's young offspring are carpeting the ground around it's trunk. In the background, a thicket of young live oaks.






Florida, walking, live oak, sabal palm, palmetto, toothache tree, gopher tortoise, threatened species, hiking, Florida photos