Proceedings

 

The 1999 UNC Sometimes Annual Phytogeographical Excursion

to

South Florida

 

 

 

March 5-13, 1999

 

 

 

Participants (from left in photo):  Rob McDonald, Weimin Xi, Mark Knott, Jason Fridley, Rachel Hochman, Mary James, Ken Wurdack, Becky Brown, John Boetsch, Bob Peet

 

Local Guides:  Jim DeCoster (Everglades National Park), Eric Menges (Archbold Biological Station), Mike Ross (Florida International University), Jim Snyder (Big Cypress National Preserve), Monica Swihart (Key Largo).

 

 

 

Itinerary

 

March 5 - Friday                  Driving South

Depart Chapel Hill ca 4:30 pm.

 

March 6 - Saturday             Everglades Introduction

USGS:   Goulds; Flamingo; West Lake; Mahogany Hammock; Pa-hay-okee Lookout Tower; Long Pine Key; Royal Palm Ranger Station.

           

            6-1      Larry & Penny Thompson Park: Miami rockland

                        Group campsite on Long Pine Key

            6-2      Everglades NP: Cypress head

6-3      Everglades NP: West Lake, Mangrove Trail

6-4             Everglades NP: Flamingo area: Eco Pond, coastal prairie

6-5      Everglades NP: Wet sawgrass and hardwood islands

            6-6      Everglades NP: Mahogany Hammock

            6-7      Everglades NP: Sunset at Pa-hay-okee tower

 

March 7 - Sunday               Coral Reefs and Fairchild Tropical Garden

USGS:  South Miami

 

7-1      John Pennekamp State Park: Coral Reefs

7-2             Fairchild Tropical Gardens

7-3             Matheson Hammock

 

March 8 - Monday               Vegetation of the Keys

Depart campground at 7:15; meet Mike Ross at 7:45 am in Florida City. Mike joined us for the day, as did Jim DeCoaster. Mike arranged Key Largo entrance permission with Pennekamp.

 

USGS:  Garden Cover; Big Pine Key; Summerland Key

 

            8-1      Key Largo Hammocks Botanical Preserve

8-2             Big Pine Key NWR: Pinelands

8-3             Big Pine Key NWR: Quasi-alvar (Strumpfia site)

8-4             Big Pine Key NWR: Hippomane Hammock

8-5             Big Pine Key NWR: Cactus Hammock

8-6      Big Pine Key NWR: Coastal berm forest

 

Evening - Dinner with Jim DeCoster & Monica Swihart

           

 

March 9 - Tuesday             Long Pine Key; eastern Everglades

Led by Jim DeCoster

 

USGS: Long Pine Key; Royal Palm Ranger Station.

 

            9-1      Everglades NP - Long Pine Key: Pineland

            9-2      Everglades NP - Long Pine Key: Pineland-swale transect

            9-3      Everglades NP - Long Pine Key: Savanna

            9-4      Everglades NP - Taylor Slough

            9-5      Everglades NP - Long Pine Key: Anhinga Trail

            9-6      Everglades NP - Long Pine Key: Gumbo-limbo Trail

 

March 10 - Wednesday      Turner River Canoe Trip

USGS:  Ochopee; Chokoloskee; Royal Palm Hammock.

 

            10-1    Turner River: Freshwater riparian

            10-2    Turner River: Mangroves

            10-3    Turner River: Shell middens

            10-4    Big Cypress NP: Cypress Trail

 

March 11 - Thursday          Big Cypress Preserve  &  Fakahatchee Strand

Tour of Big Cypress led by Jim Snyder

 

USGS:  Deep lake SW

 

            11-1    Big Cypress NP - 11 mile Rd:  Cypress prairie & heads

            11-2    Big Cypress NP -  Raccoon Point:  Old-growth pineland

            11-3    Big Cypress NP -  Raccoon Point:  hardwood hammock

            11-4    Fakahatchee State Preserve:  Hike to lake

            11-5    Fakahatchee State Preserve: Pine savanna        

           

March 12 - Friday                Archbold Biological Station

Introduction to Archibold by Eric Menges

 

USGS:  Venus NW; Childs; Crewsville.

 

            12-1    Archbold BS: Scrub west of Headquarters

            12-2    Archbold BS: Red Hill sand pine and turkey oak scrub

            12-3    Archbold BS: South end - scrub,rosemary balds, swales

            12-4    Highlands Hammock State Park

 

Mar 13 - Sat                          Lake Wales Ridge  &  Driving North

USGS:  lake Arbuckle SW, Juniper Springs

           

13-1        Ken's favorite scrub

13-2        Ocala Chamaecyparis swamp                  

           

Mar 14 - Sun                        Drive to Chapel Hill

Arrive Chapel Hill ca 7:00 am

 

 

Accommodations

 

March 5  (Fri)

            Sleep in cars while driving

 

March  6, 7, 8 (Sat-Sun-Mon)

            Everglades National Park

            Long Pine Key Campground - Group Camp.       

Reservation ID=455-592; Account ID = 330-655

            Call 1-800-388-2733

                       

March 9, 10 (Tue-Wed)

            Collier-Seminole State Park

            16 Miles west of Everglades City turnoff from US 41

            Phone 941-394-3397; 8-6 office hours

Gate is LOCKED at sundown; need to call ahead during the day to get the combination (1984).

 

March 11, 12 (Thu-Fri)

            Archbold Biological Station

            Reservations made with Penny DeVane

            941-465-2571

 

March 13 (Sat)

            Sleep in cars while driving

 

 

 Proceedings

 

 

Saturday - March 6

 

Respectfully submitted by Jason D. Fridley,

Proofread by Kenneth J. Wurdack (though with disdain).

 

No sleep.  Fortunately Citrus is in the air as we ramble through Palm Beach County, the most highly productive vegetable area in the US.  If this county were ranked as a state, it would fall in number 37.

 

At seven in the morning, after the first of what would be too many shuffles about for an eating joint, we arrive at “Pearl’s” just outside of West Palm Beach.  Apparently Rob’s grandmother is our waitress.  I find out that, now some 24 hours without sleep, I’m to record for the day.  Thank God for coffee, grits, and ESPN Sportscenter.  Indeed, after remarking on our first Melaleuca in the parking lot, Mary concludes, “This place is awesome.  A real gem.”  I somehow remember to write that down.

 

It’s at about this time, pulling back onto I-95, we realize that at 4 am we inadvertently drove off from a 7-11 gas station without paying for the fuel of one of the Burbans.  While waiting for a visit from the state patrol, all blame is placed on Rob, who was driving the vehicle in question at the time.  The “cool” van (no one under the age of 27 admitted) cares less, and Digable Planets, Blues Brothers, Phish, Johnny Cash, and Fishbone help numb our minds.  This will become essential preparation for the week ahead.

 

Roadside plants abound, including:

 

Casuarina equisetifolia (Australian Pine)

Pinus elliotii var. densa (South Florida Slash Pine)

Araucaria excelsa (Norfolk Island Pine, commonly planted)

Roystonea elata (Royal Palm)

Serenoa repens (Saw palmetto)

Coco nucifera (Coconut palm)

Cassytha filiformis (the love vine!)

Coccoloba diversifolia (Pigeon Plum)

 

Fortunately, the “old van” remembers something about Rachel and airplane, and we arrive at Miami International just in time for the pick up at 8:45 am.  From here, it’s only a quick jaunt to Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park and our first Miami oolite rocklands.  Mary is ecstatic. 

 

 

Representative plants:

 

Abrus precatorius

Anemia adiantifolia

Aster adnatus

Bidens sp.

Bigelowia nudata subsp. australis

Cassytha filiformis (the love vine!)

Chamaesyce deltoidea

Chrysobalanus sp. (perhaps icaco)

Cnidosculus stimulosus

Crossopetalum illicifolium

Croton discolor

Ditaxis blodgettii

Galactia sp. (likely pinetorum)

Guettardia scabra

Indigofera sp. (likely miniata)

Quercus minima or virginiana

Metopium toxiferum

Opuntia humifusa

Pinus elliotii var. densa

Pteridium caudatum

Quercus hemispherica

Randia aculeata

Serenoa repens (dominant palm)

Tephrosia angustissima

Zamia pumila

 

Alas, no Amorpha herbaceae var. crenulata (but Mary later spotted a specimen at Fairchild Tropical garden).  Animals included a flock of parakeets (!) and an American egret.

 

At 11 am, we hit the obligatory Roberts is Here, a fresh fruit and veggie stand.  Amid fields of eggplant, one may find (but is not limited to): grapefruit, oranges (Indian River Valencias, Sweet Honey Tangerines), watermelon, lime, lemon, papaya, coconuts, pineapple, passion fruit, sapodilla, sugar cane, much veggie produce, fresh fruit milkshakes, coconut monkeys, conch shells.   One of the coconut-sculpture mice finds its way back to permanent display in the UNC Herbarium.  One (and eventually two) of the fruit milkshakes finds its way into my digestive system.  Others follow suit.

 

Flora of Florida Cocos nucifera L. f. mus   Location: "Robert's is here"      Corner of 192nd Ave. & SW 344th St.      Dade County, Florida Date: March 6, 1999 Collectors: Biology 247 - R. Peet, J. Boetsch, R. Brown,      R. Hochman, M. James, J Fridley, M. Knott, R. McDonald,      K. Wurdack, W. Xi.

 

We’re in the heart of agriculture country!  Just today we’ve seen eggplant, peppers, yaro, tomatoes, zukes, green beans.  There’s lots of activity in the fields; many crops are harvested as we watch.

 

At 11:20 am Everglades NP and Long Pine Key Campground.  Finally our residence for the next 3 nights, and suddenly there are two strangers among us—Amy Miller and Mike Jenkins, long-lost friends of Mary.  They inhabit an adjacent site.  Our site is at the far back of the loop, perhaps 100 meters from surface water.  A number of members, certainly Bob and Ken, head off into the surrounding brush even before the Burbans are unloaded.  Plants are named, but the recorder is setting up camp and too distant to hear.  Lunch is had at the site, courtesy the food crew.

 

It’s not long before we’re off again, this time west on 27 from Long Pine Key; we’re going to the end of this road, the coastal National Park village of Flamingo.  But it’s only another 15 minutes before we’re leaping from the vans once again, this time off into our first cypress dome off the roadside (UTM zone 17 E 518078 N 2803671).  Plants:

Cypress Head

Andropogon glomeratus

Blechnum serrulatum

Boehmeria cylindrica

Dichromena colorata

Epidendrum sp.

Ficus aurea

Lycopodium

Nephrolepsis exaltata

Parthenocissus quinquefolium

Passiflora suberosa

Persea palustris/borbonia

Pontederia cordata

Psilotum nudum

Rhynchospora spp.

Sagittaria lancifolia

Taxodium ascendens

Tetrazygia bicolor

Tillandsia balbisiana

Tillandsia fasciculata

Tillandsia recurvata

Tillandsia utriculata

Tillandsia valenzuelana

Tillandsia spp.

Utricularia spp.

 

Cypress Prairie

Aletris bracheata

Calopogon tuberosis

Cassitha filiformis

Cladium jamaicense

Pluchea rosea

Polygala grandiflora

Rhynchospora spp.

Samolus sp.

Sisyrinchium miamiense

Taxodium ascendens

Tillandsia recurvata

 

We continue west on 27.  The mangroves beckon.  With none of us yet acclimated to the south Florida heat, a shady boardwalk trail seems called for, and fortunately the Park Service facilitates with the West Lake Trail, a loop through the mangroves, which most of us have not yet seen (UTM E 515121 N 2788651).  It’s not clear why there are so many German tourists on this particular boardwalk.  As they scuffle by, we toss out binomials like a crazed statistician:

 

Acrostichum danaeifolium

Avicennia germinans

Batis maritima

Cereus gracilis (var. sampsoni?)

Conocarpus erectus

Epidendrum sp.

Langucularia racemosa

Myrica cerifera

Pteris sp. (likely bahamensis)

Rhabdabdenia biflora (makes lab list of top 5 genus names)

Rhizophora mangle

Schinus terebinthifolius

Smilax

 

We continue west, stopping just outside Flamingo at “Ecopond,” an amusing euphemism that they call a “sewerhole” up north (here a pond occupying a man-made depression and now highly eutrophic, probably from all the birds that frequent the place).  Apparently preferring the former name, animals abound here, and most noticeable are the avian residents.  Some of us care about these critters, others, such as Ken, don’t seem to notice.

 

Behind (north of) Ecopond lies a fine example of coastal succulent prairie.  Apparently occasional storm surges inundate the area, only to evaporate in place leaving a high concentration of salt.  Again, the Latin flies like an angry Plato after getting rear-ended, but not so long for there are only about 7 species in this land of Salicornia.

Plants:

Batis maritima

Borrichia frutescens

Distichlis spicata

Lisium caroliniana

Salicornia virginica

Schinus terebinthifolius

Typha domingensis

 

Birds:

Anhinga

Bittern

Black and white warbler

Catbird

Coot

American egret

Cattle egret

Common gallinule

Laughing gull

Little blue heron

Little green heron

Great blue heron

Kingfisher

Osprey

Pale S. Fl. Red-shouldered hawk

Pied-billed grebe

Pine warbler

White ibis

Glossy ibis

Wood stork

Yellow Throat

Snowy egret

The visible reptilian fauna includes the birds’ close cousin, the GATOR.  You wouldn’t know it by looking at him.

 

At about this time Bob’s yearning for a floating pen becomes noticeable and a stop at the gift shop in Flamingo is inevitable.  The Captain never goes home empty handed.  But this break is simply too long, and his first sighting of cold wet muck protecting a mangrove island off the east side of 27 is all the excuse he needs to once again leap from the van.  This is not a place for the squeamish, and sandals are useless here.  After much fretting, Mary finally finds an entryway into the mangroves (more likely makes one when we’re not looking), and we all enter.  We’re not disappointed:

 

The site was primarily open Cladium marsh with water ca 30-40cm deep with scattered Rhizophora.  Scattered about on small mounds were hardwood hammocks, dominated principally by Chrysobalanus & Coccoloba diversifolia.

Chrysobalanus icaco

Cladium jamaicense

Catopsis berteronia

Eleocharis sp.

Juncus sp.

Myrica cerifera

Potamogeton sp.