The Carnivorous Plant FAQ Field Trip Report -

Florida waterscapes in 2003

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Big Cypress National Preserve:
The loop drive is great. I found a quiet pulloff, took GPS and compass reading from my car, and headed into the swamp for the day. These are small cypress trees (Taxodium distichum). My guess is that some point this area was clearcut, and these trees are the regrowth. The ground was was covered with water ranging in depth from few cm to a meter or so (an inch, to a yard). This area is probably the twiggiest place I have ever been. The deciduous cypress trees were bare of needles, but their horizontally held twigs poked everywhere. It was twiggy, twiggy, twiggy. A twig universe.

The grass you see is sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense), a tough, stiff plant with serrate edges. It is a twiggy grass.

The sheet of surface water housed plenty of Utricularia foliosa, but no other carnivores. I was in particular looking for Drosera capillaris. Perhaps the seasonal flooding makes this habitat unacceptable to sundews.

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Revised: October 2007
©Barry Rice, 2005