This Week’s Hot Topics
- Governing Board Water Conservation Workshop on Nov. 9.
- New water conservation cost-share program information available.
- Watering restrictions changed Nov. 1 to one day per week.
- Water supply planning meetings to be held throughout the region.
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Waterwise Florida Landscapes
Florida plant communities
The most common plant community in Florida. Acidic, sandy soil that commonly has a hardpan layer 1–3 feet below the surface. Moisture levels vary from dry to nearly saturated during the wet season. Fires caused naturally by lightning occur every 2–10 years, leaving ash to fertilize new growth. In earlier decades, the pine flatwoods floor was cleared by fire. Now, without regular fires, a shrub strata dominates. In managed conservation areas, controlled burns are conducted to reduce the amount of fuel plants on the forest floor and to encourage growth of herbaceous species.
The most dominant species include longleaf pine, slash pine or pond pine (depending on hydric conditions), saw palmetto, gallberry, fetterbush and tarflower. The forest floor has herbaceous species such as wiregrass, muhly grass, blazing star, violets and lilies — species adapted to both wet and dry conditions. Occasionally there are dahoon holly, persimmon, maple trees, loblolly bay and sweetbay.
- Beach dune systems — Alkaline to neutral soils of coarse sand and shell; well drained, with some salt; low fertility; dry, hot, sunny and windy conditions. Common species include Spanish bayonet, saw palmetto, seaside purslane, saltmeadow cordgrass, beach morning glory, blanket flower and beach dune sunflower.
- Maritime forests — Soil pH moderately alkaline to neutral; sandy with some shell and periodic shell mounds. Retains some moisture though well drained, with humus, organic material. Plants indigenous to this community will tolerate some salt, wind, shade and drought. Some common plants include southern red cedar and magnolia, redbay, sand live oak, cabbage palm, American holly, Hercules’-club, saltbush and coontie.
High pinelands of open longleaf pine with wiregrass and shrubs and turkey oaks, over rolling uplands and sand ridges, with deep, acidic sandy soil that is very well drained. Sandhills grade into pine flatwoods and are often adjacent to, or interspersed with, islands of scrub throughout Florida.
Hardwood hammocks occur in patches in temperate areas of Florida. The soils are acidic and sandy; the range is through the three moisture zones: xeric , hydric and mesic.
- Upland mixed forests — Occur throughout Florida’s northern panhandle region on upland clay soils over limestone bedrock. The canopy and understory are highly diverse, dominated by hardwoods, mostly oaks, with some pine species which are more prominent in earlier successional phases.
- Upland mesic hardwood forests — Oak-hickory to pine-oak-hickory; range is through central to west-central Florida on rich upland soils and clay hills.
Sand over marl; flat hammocks of cabbage palms and live oaks; rarely flooded.
The uplands of southern peninsular Florida and the Keys; highly impacted by human development.
- Pine rocklands — Porous limestone with sandy humus and marl; good drainage. Plant species include South Florida slash pine, cabbage palm and saw palmetto, with ferns, sedges and more than a hundred herbaceous species.
- Tropical hardwood hammocks — Alkaline limestone with moist humus. The diverse canopy carries many epiphytes, such as bromeliads, orchids and ferns. The canopy includes live oak, gumbo limbo, black ironwood and mahogany. The understory ranges from temperate to tropical species and includes white, red and Spanish stoppers, spicewood, beautyberry and wild coffee.
- Dry prairies — Similar to pine flatwoods without the pine overstory; dry prairies occur in central and southern Florida. Sandy, acidic soil is present, often with hardpan and a high water table, becoming inundated only after heavy rain. Dominant species are wiregrass and broomsedges.
- Marl/rockland prairies — Wet grassy areas on alkaline soils intermixed with forests on porous limestone with an understory of palms and shrubs.
- Wet prairies — Often intermingles in ecotones with pine flatwoods, with few sparse pines, if any, allowing the sun through to stimulate a flourishing of herbaceous flora. Wet prairies are inundated by water 50–150 days of the year.
Consists of Florida’s rarest plants and animals. The land area of this endangered habitat was reduced by more than 90 percent during the 20th century, leaving fragments, often in degraded condition.
Infertile, sandy, excessively drained soils are high aquifer recharge areas, making scrub a particularly important ecosystem. These forests consist of scrub sand pine, small scrub oaks, rosemary shrubs and scrub palmetto.
- Scrub cypress — Occurs in south Florida with thin marl soils over limestone; dwarfed pond cypress with sedges and grasses. Adjacent to the Everglades; often flooded.
Inundated by water most of the year. Can border rivers and lakes or be isolated; dominated by bald cypress in flowing systems and pond cypress in stagnant systems.
- Swamp forests — Flooded most of the year along rivers and basins; characterized by pond cypress, bald cypress, red maple, water hickory, ashes and tupelo.
- Hydric hammocks — Moist sites flooded occasionally, with evergreen and deciduous hardwoods of red maple, loblolly bay, water oak, Florida elm and cabbage palm.
Shallow wetlands that contain a variety of grasses and sedges on peat soil which may be dry during certain conditions. Common plants found are grasses, saw grass, pickerelweed, arrowhead and water lilies.
Water levels in coastal wetlands are under the constant influence of tides, thus the degree of salinity varies from salt water to brackish.
- Coastal salt marshes — Mostly occur in north and west Florida; characterized by grasses and rushes.
- Mangrove swamps — Occur in central and south Florida coastal areas that flood, then drain, creating thick, nutritious muck.
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