Palmetto
By Bruce Vanderveen
Imagine an early morning hike through the mists of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, a hike led by a renowned Florida State University botany professor. Imagine two days of camaraderie with fellow native plant enthusiasts. Imagine seminars on ecology, community and the latest native plant research.
Then, imagine social events every evening – events with outdoor dining and dancing. Relaxing soirees in exotic locations such as the 22nd floor of the Florida capitol building, the Tall Timbers Research Station, and the San Luis Mission in Tallahassee.
But no, it wasn’t a dream. It all really happened in the middle of May at the 2010 Florida Native Plant Society Conference in Tallahassee.
From Field Trips to the Florida State Capitol
We accompanied trip leader extraordinaire Dr. Loran Anderson, professor emeritus from Florida State University, through the pine lands, sand hills and pond habitats of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Many native plant species were seen, including sundews (Drosera sp.), St. John’s wort (Hypericum sp.), and candyroot (Polygala nana). Inkberry, or gallberry (Ilex glabra) was in glorious bloom.
Our next stop in Sopchoppy gave us a look at false dragonhead (Physostegia purpurea) blossoming profusely along the riverbanks, bearded grasspink (Calopogon barbatus), yellow colicroot (Aletris lutea), and the Ogeechee tupelo (Nyssa ogeche). Seeing the tupelo was a real treat.
Thursday evening we attended the traditional “Meet and Greet” social, held on the top floor of the capitol building. Impressive panoramic views of Tallahassee stretched out in all directions. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres were followed by a lively “plant jeopardy” contest. As Team A, we were unfortunately edged out
The purpose of the Florida Native Plant Society is to preserve, conserve, and restore the native plants and native plant communities of Florida. Official definition of native plant: For most purposes, the phrase Florida native plant refers to those species occurring within the state boundaries prior to European contact, according to the best available scientific and historical documentation. More specifically, it includes those species understood as indigenous, occurring in natural associations in habitats that existed prior to significant human impacts and alterations of the landscape. Organization: Members are organized into regional chapters throughout Florida. Each chapter elects a Chapter Representative who serves as a voting member of the Board of Directors and is responsible for advocating the chapter’s needs and objectives. See www.fnps.org
FNPS Board of Directors
Please contact Steve Woodmansee, Vice President for Finance
786-488-3101
stevewoodmansee@bellsouth.net
8025 SW 102 Avenue, Miami, FL 33173-3937
Directors-at-Large, 2008–2010
Carrie Reinhardt-Adams, Ann Moore, Rick Joyce Directors-at-Large, 2009–2011 Terry Zinn, Debbie Springer, Martha Steuart
To contact board members: Visit www.fnps.org or write care of: FNPS – PO Box 278 Melbourne FL 32902-0278
To join or for inquiries: Contact your local Chapter Representative, or call, write, or e-mail FNPS, or visit www.fnps.org. Florida Native Plant Society PO Box 278 Melbourne FL 32902-0278 Phone: (321) 271-6702 info@fnps.org
Shropshire
Above: Dr. Loran Anderson Continued on
Palmetto
Features
4 Everglades
Tree-Islands
Tree-islands create a fascinating mosaic wherever they occur. Geologist Peter A. Stone investigates their formation, ecology and history, in the Everglades and beyond.
8 Historical and Current Occurrence of Endangered Schizaea pennula
Schizaea pennula, (ray fern), inhabits tree-islands in the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Diane LaRue reports on the ray fern’s status and how plans for invasive plant control in the Loxahatchee may affect its presence.
13 Book Review
Bromeliads are the most widespread group of epiphytes, or tree-growing plants found in Florida. Native Bromeliads of Florida is a fine introduction to these fascinating “air plants”. Review by Charles McCartney.
14 Pricing the Priceless
The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico presented Floridians with a frightening wake up call. Jessica Wheeler’s essay, excerpted from the recently published book Unspoiled – Writers Speak for Florida’s Coasts, speaks eloquently about this fragile paradise and the looming threat to Florida’s ecosystems should offshore drilling commence.
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The Palmetto (ISSN 0276-4164) Copyright 2010, Florida Native Plant Society, all rights reserved. No part of the contents of this magazine may be reproduced by any means without written consent of the editor. The Palmetto is published four times a year by the Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) as a benefit to members. The observations and opinions expressed in attributed columns and articles are those of the respective authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official views of the Florida Native Plant Society or the editor, except where otherwise stated.
Palmetto seeks articles on native plant species and related conservation topics, as well as high-quality botanical illustrations and photographs. Contact the editor for guidelines, deadlines and other information at pucpuggy@bellsouth.net, or visit www.fnps.org and follow the links to Publications/Palmetto.
Editorial Content: We have a continuing interest in articles on specific native plant species and related conservation topics, as well as high-quality botanical illustrations and photographs. Contact the editor for submittal guidelines, deadlines and other information.
Editor: Marjorie Shropshire, Visual Key Creative, Inc. ● pucpuggy@bellsouth.net ● (772) 232-1384 ● 855 N.E. Stokes Terrace, Jensen Beach FL 34957
Anise (Illicium floridanum)
Photo by Terry Ashley
Everglades Tree-Islands
Vegetation Patches, Geologic Landforms, and Landscape Features
by Peter A. Stone, Columbia SC
Tree-islands are visually distinct patches of forest or tall bushes surrounded by low-stature, usually non-woody vegetation. The surrounding grass, sedge, or herbaceous community typically forms the dominant vegetation of the area, but tree-islands stand out visually, even if small, and add beauty as well as ecological diversity to the open vegetation they adorn. These patches host woody plants and their associated plant and animal species within an otherwise nonforested vegetation. When they occur on mounds in wetlands they provide a locality with mesic habitat and additionally act as high-water refugia for animals. On patches of soil such as limestone outcrops, they often have plants suspected of this edaphic preference. Finally, treeislands add an aesthetic diversity, perhaps best demonstrated by their frequency in landscape photos and paintings.
Tree-islands occur worldwide in nonforested environments. In Florida, with its abundance of marshes and wet and semi-dry prairies, there are vast numbers and many types of tree-islands. While all these deserve eventual systematic description, Everglades tree-islands (hammocks) are perhaps the widest known, and will serve as a good introduction to the larger phenomenon.
Tree-islands
in the Everglades
The Everglades proper are more diverse than is commonly considered but do not include all the wetlands in South Florida.
The northern and middle Everglades and the Shark Slough portion of the southern Everglades in Everglades National Park are all part of one vast peatland, with an organic soil slowly accreting from marsh plants. Upper flanks of Shark Slough, to the west and east, are marshes underlain instead by marl (freshwater carbonate mud) and rock, and marl also floors the extensions of the Everglades marshes along the extreme southeastern coast.
Several distinct types of tree-islands typify each of these areas, except in the former dense sawgrass marshes of the northern Everglades (now converted to agriculture), which apparently almost entirely lacked tree-islands. In the peatland, most Everglades tree-islands occur in areas that have abundant waterlily marsh combined with sawgrass marsh in a patchy environment, while wet-prairie (sparsely stocked marsh often of relatively thin-leaved species) characterizes the marl prairies and rocky marshes.
Hammocks, heads, and groves
The term tree-island is sometimes extended to patches of distinctly different forest within a prevailing type, notably hammock within pinewoods or mangrove forest. Hammock here strictly refers to broadleaf evergreen forest with some tropical affinity, but the term is also widely used for tree-islands in marshes, especially in the Everglades, whether composed of hammock vegetation or
Figure 1
Figure 1: A landscape co-dominated by bayhead tree-islands and waterlily-rich (Nymphaea) marshes in the interior of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. These small peat-mound tree-islands probably originated and grew from still smaller floating peat islands. Near the center of the photo, the conspicuously dense patch of waterlilies with the small open-water spot is the site of origin of a floating peat island, this being where it arose from the waterlily marsh bottom. The island itself was still afloat at the time of this photo (ca. 1975) and was covered with bushes and sawgrass, but had moved slightly and lay adjacent to the upper-left. All the established larger tree-islands are fully aground.
not. Thus hammock is used somewhat differently in vegetational vs. landscape senses. Because many tree-islands in Florida are on sediment mounds in wetlands, the term tree-island is often extended to the landform as well, being true islands at most water levels. Head (when broadleaf trees or cypress) and grove (for cabbage palms) are other common terms for tree-islands used in peninsular Florida, and house is used for those found in marshes (locally called prairies) of the nearby Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia.
Why do tree-islands occur?
Tree-islands intrigue the ecologist in several ways, notably as isolated ecological patches, but an interrelated dual question always exists: why do tree-islands occur at all, and why at their specific sites? These questions in turn raise a more fundamental one: why are the surroundings treeless? Answers may relate to topography, geology, geomorphology, hydrology, soils, fire, archeology, or combinations of these. In addition, the long-term slow areal growth and the distinct elongation of many large tree-islands (elongated parallel to water flow in the surrounding marsh) are fascinating topics fully as important as the controls on tree-island location and origin. Some understanding of these matters is now forthcoming but much remains to be learned.
Flooding and fire are considered principal ecological factors in preventing woody growth in Florida’s non-salty marshes and prairies. These limiting factors must somehow be ameliorated at the immediate sites of tree-islands, except in the special case where such forest patches are new – for example a patch of pestiferous Melaleuca in the Everglades surrounding a “mother tree” that arrived at that spot by mere chance. Usually in wetlands such as the Everglades the forested sites are slightly mounded and thus have a less-severe flooding regime than surrounding marshes. The age and origin of this sediment mound is of high interest in understanding tree-island origin and succession (i.e., their history or evolution). Some tree-islands in the southern Everglades, such as cypress domes and willow heads are found instead in shallow depressions in the sediment surface. These are of even more intriguing origin, particularly if they do not occupy solution holes.
Origins and evolution
Fortunately, many wetland tree-islands and their marsh surroundings lie on geologically very young sediments such as peats. These give geologists (like myself), archeologists, and botanists various methods for determining important aspects of how and
Figure 2: Another view of the interior of the A. R. Marshall Loxahatchee NWR showing both the numerous small peat-mound tree-islands (with Persea palustris abundant) and one of the large elongated, lower and wetter, “ridge” type treeislands (Ilex cassine dominated). Both of these represent bayhead vegetation.
Figure 3: A small peat-mound tree-island in the NWR, where thousands exist. The sawgrass fringe is typical.
Figure 4: A large, elongated (parallel to natural flow), low peat-ridge tree-island in the NWR, where roughly a hundred exist. Trees here grow mainly on small, closely spaced, root-peat tussocks or mounds, and the general tree-island floor floods at seasonal high water. Waterlily-rich marshes and small peat-mound tree-islands surround it.
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Everglades Tree-Islands
(Continued from page 5)
when these true islands and their supported forest patches came to be, when and how they originated, and how they later evolved or succeeded both as sediment landforms and as forest.
Curiously, many tree-islands originated long after their surroundings had already become open marsh. Everglades peatland marshes are about 5,000 radiocarbon years old (although marl marshes preceded them by up to a few thousand years, and rocky marshes for a while before that). Fully-established tree-islands in the vast assemblage on the deep peats of the northeastern Everglades (A. R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge) are as young as ~750 years old, and possibly younger, while others that are smaller and bushier appear still to be initiating (Stone, et al., 2002).
Some Everglades tree-islands farther south that are focused on bedrock mounds may have supported woody growth even before their surroundings first flooded and became marsh. Dating of basal archeological material at a tree-island where thick sediment forms the mound in the mid-latitude Everglades (Broward Co.) shows that ~5000 years of repeated human occupation occurred there (Masson, et al., 1988). Thus, it is possible that little flooding took place during virtually the entire peatland era, and a forested condition occurred at the site throughout.
Human occupation
A long history of human occupation is the rule not the exception for tree-islands, apart from the young peat mounds in the Loxahatchee Refuge area. The most elevated portions of present day tree-islands may be the remains of very old, smaller treeislands. The obvious association between humans and tree-islands is that these offer the only favorable camping or village sites in the Everglades. The prolonged (though possibly just seasonal or occasional) occupation probably has had important effects on the physical and soil-nutrient characteristics of the island sites and their vegetation. Tree-islands seem to be net-recipients of nutrients brought in from elsewhere, ranging from the abundant guano of roosting wading birds to food debris left behind by human hunter-gatherers.
Composition and development
Many tree-islands in Everglades National Park and the middle-latitude Everglades (especially Conservation Area 3) seem to lie at their upstream ends above slight mounds of hard rock or rock-like mineral sediment, now accentuated by a superimposed mound of younger peaty soil often rich in food-bone debris. At least one reportedly is on a low peat mound that somehow
accreted above a shallow depression in the bedrock, in a little understood landform succession. The most astounding topographic situation is a large tree-island focused on 80-foot deep Gator Lake, an extensive limestone sinkhole near the very center of the original Everglades – but here the lake remains open and the tree-island surrounds it.
Most Everglades tree-islands are composed of bayhead vegetation – broadleaf evergreen trees of temperate affiliation (e.g., dahoon holly, Ilex cassine). Certain common trees are of tropical affiliation, but of types that extend much father north than southern Florida (e.g., redbay, Persea palustris).
Hammock vegetation is common on the higher, rarelyflooded mounds located above the limestone bedrock or mineral sediment rises. The archetypical Everglades tree-island of the middle and southern Everglades has (1) a higher head, supporting hammock, which lies above a buried mound of limestone bedrock or other mineral-rich, often hard, carbonate sediment, and (2) a much larger and elongated tail on a low broad ridge of peat supporting bayhead, which extends far downstream in the direction of the slow seaward flow of marsh water. Exactly how these peat-ridge tree-islands formed with such elongation is subject to wide and active conjecture and research. Similarly elongated and oriented tree-islands exist in certain large northern peatlands. Some association with flow is obvious.
Equally fascinating in terms of tree-island development is the origin of the many mounds beneath the heads of the large, elongated, two-tier tree-islands. (Some researchers have it as a three-part forest: hammock, bayhead, and bayhead swamp, proceeding from head through tail.) While a low mound in the buried mineral substrate is thought to be the focus, much of the mound height itself is of loose granular organic “peaty” sediment, up to several feet thick, and this is often rich in archeological debris. Almost unbelievably, in many tree-islands in the southeastern Everglades what appears to be the mounded top of the light-colored, ancient marine limestone bedrock is actually a young but hard
Figure 5: The distinctive profile of an upstream head on an archetypical tree-island of the middle and southern Everglades. This example is in Shark Slough, Everglades National Park. The view is from the marsh directly upstream. The patch of taller trees in the center is the head of hammock vegetation growing on the more-elevated upstream mound. The surrounding lower trees and bushes extend for a long distance downflow (out of sight here) and form a tail. This vegetation is wetter bayhead forest on a low peat ridge (just slightly higher than the adjacent sawgrass) and contains rootpeat tussocks.
freshwater carbonate or carbonate-cemented layer. This layer somehow relates to human occupation and/or climate change only a few thousand years ago (this fascinating topic is under active investigation: Graf, et al., 2008).
Some small tree-islands without notable mounds exist in the Everglades. Willow heads (some surrounding gator holes), along with wax myrtle, elderberry, buttonbush, and coco plum clumps are common in the marshes. These may be young and are possibly of short duration. Various other isolated minor tree-island types occur, including small patches of pine on tiny rocky plateaus in the southern Everglades.
Unlike the archetypical example with a head of hammock vegetation, thousands of Everglades tree-islands, both large and small, are solely composed of bayhead vegetation. These include the vast assemblage in the less-widely known northeastern Everglades, but some are found elsewhere too, including Shark Slough. Despite being floristically and topographically the least diverse, these tree-islands are among the most interesting ecologically in terms of origin. They occur as low mounds or ridges atop thick marsh peat – the tree-islands formed only long after the local Everglades marshes originated and they developed solely by peatland evolution (local sedimentation) and vegetational succession. They are biogeomorphic features, not focused on relict geological or archeological features. How they formed is not yet known precisely, but the numerous, small, more-rounded type appears to have begun upon incipient low peat mounds produced by floating islands of detached peat. The large elongated type (~100) probably succeeded upon isolated large sawgrass ridges in waterlily-dominated marshes.
Similar modification of local topography by vegetation and peat accretion must explain the few similar tree-islands in the southern Everglades, including those that reportedly are found on low peat mounds above a depression in the mineral substrate, whether bedrock or marl. For instance, a cypress dome in a slight depression might succeed to bayhead by local accretion of peat or muck, as some now seem to be doing in Everglades National Park. Everglades tree-islands have important ecological functions and unfortunately have been destroyed in large numbers by recent water-management alterations (from drying and the burning away of the peat mound to prolonged flooding and drowning of the forest). They are, belatedly, beginning to receive some of the research attention they deserve (e.g., Sklar and van der Valk, 2002).
Other Florida tree-islands
We need to know more about other tree-island types found elsewhere in Florida, beginning with their areas of notable occurrence. They include:
● Cabbage-palm hammocks on Indian Prairie northwest of Lake Okeechobee, in the rocky salty marshes of the upper Gulf coast, and in the large freshwater marshlands of the upper St. Johns River. These are well recognized if little studied. Many are on low mounds and many have significant archeological accretion.
● In South Florida (outside the Everglades), various marshes and prairies have many types of tree-islands, with cypress domes being the most numerous, but bayheads, palm hammocks, and pine islands occurring as well.
● Farther north in peninsular Florida, Roland Harper, John Small, and earlier botanists and naturalists noted patches and clumps of woody vegetation in a number of otherwise unforested communities, but mainly in passing, without any details.
What do we know of such features now, nearly a century later? In trying to assess this we must be careful not to be fooled. Some prairies, even natural looking ones, may have been pine flatwoods, logged long ago and then repeatedly burned. Tree-islands there may be essentially artificial relicts. There is no doubt though about many tree-islands in the salt marshes. Some are clearly old shoreline dunes protruding through the younger marsh mud, others are of different origin. Tree-islands similar to those of the Everglades have been mentioned for freshwater marshes in Jamaica (Negril) and Cuba (Cienega de Zapata and Isle of Pines) and shown in photos in marshes in the Bahamas (Andros), to mention just some nearby foreign lands. If one has an eye for them, tree-islands are seen in many marshes and prairies. Take a look!
I would appreciate notice of occurrences or unusual treeisland types that I have not mentioned and references to any type. Sources of information generalized here will be gladly provided to anyone interested. E-mail: stonepa@dhec.sc.gov
References
Graf, M.-T., Schwadron, M., Stone, P.A., Ross, M., Chmura, G.L., 2008, An enigmatic carbonate layer in Everglades tree island peats: Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, v. 89, no. 12, p. 117-118.
Masson, M., Carr, R.S., and Goldman, D., 1988, The Taylor’s Head site (8BD74): sampling a prehistoric midden on an Everglades tree island: Florida Anthropologist, v. 41, no. 3, p. 336-350.
Sklar, F. H., and van der Valk, A. G., eds., 2002. Tree Islands of the Everglades: Kluwer [now Springer] Press. Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Stone, P.A., Gleason, P.J., and Chmura, G.L., 2002, Bayhead tree-islands on deep peats of the northeastern Everglades (in Sklar and Van der Valk, 2002), p. 71-115.
About the Author
Peter Stone grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He wrote a geomorphology thesis (Florida Atlantic University) on floating peat islands in the Everglades, and early in his career worked several years assisting in Everglades peatland environmentalgeology research, emphasizing tree-islands, and a year in vegetational land-cover mapping throughout South Florida. His later work in the Everglades is avocational, mostly done in cooperation with Florida International University researchers. He is a groundwater geologist/hydrologist by career occupation.
Historical and Current Occurrence of Endangered Schizaea pennula
at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Florida
by Diane LaRue and Gayle Martin
Schizaea pennula Sw. (ray fern) is state listed as endangered by Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and listed as critically imperilled by Florida Natural Areas Inventory. This study was performed in March – April of 2009 to ascertain if S. pennula is still in existence on tree-islands at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and to assess its vulnerability to the invasive plant management program currently being conducted at the Refuge.
Historically, the species, also known as Actinostachys pennula (Sw.) Hook (spike ray fern), Actinostachys germanii Fée and Schizaea germanii (Fée) Prantl (tropical curly-grass fern), was noted in Florida in low hammocks near the headwaters of the Miami River in 1904 and in 1914 at Royal Palm Hammock, Dade County (Small 1918, p. 7). It was found in 1952 from Pinellas County (Beckner 1953) and in 1972 at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Palm Beach County in organic soils of tree-islands (Alexander 1974). Although it is considered extirpated from Dade and Pinellas Counties, it has recently been found associated with Serenoa repens (W. Bartram) Small (saw palmetto) in sandy soils of mesic pine flatwoods at Big Cypress National Preserve, Collier County and at Prairie Pines Preserve, Lee County in similar circumstances (Woodmansee and Sadle 2005).
Small describes the fern as epiphytic, of small stature (5 - 15 cm tall) with from one to several erect leaves arising from a bristly tuber usually buried in rotten wood. Because of its small size and its sheltered habitat, it is easily overlooked (Small 1918). Alexander noted that the plants at the Refuge grow on the small tree-islands characterized by ferns on the margins and with open interior under the tree canopy. These islands are dominated by Ilex cassine L. (dahoon holly), and what he called Persea borbonia (L.) Spreng. (red bay), which is now known to be Persea palustris (Raf.) Sarg. (swamp bay). Alexander gave the fern’s habitat as old rotting Persea stumps and trunks on these islands (Alexander 1974).
According to Refuge reports, staff interest in S. pennula has varied over the years at the Refuge. A “Management Plan”, which included a technical description along with habitat and management considerations, was
completed in 1981. This document stated that it had not been found on islands burned in the 1960s, nor was it found on islands subjected to much human use. Recommended management suggestions included maintaining a normal flood-drought periodicity, prevention of prolonged drying (with accompanying fire risk), prevention of prolonged flooding, protection from human disturbance and denial of requests for collection.
While areas were being posted for a proposed deer hunt in 1982, new locations were found, although the precise locations were not specified. Occasionally permission was given to collect specimens for organizations concerned with rare native plants. Nauman, a fern expert, viewed the fern at the Refuge and published a description of it (Nauman 1987). It was generally accepted at that time that the only extant population in the continental U. S. was on these small tree-islands at the Refuge, always associated with rotting Persea stumps and mounds.
By 2000, the Refuge’s tree-islands were heavily infested with Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S.T. Blake (Melaleuca) and Lygodium microphyllum (Cav.) R. Br. (Lygodium). The latter is considered by many to be in the same plant family (Schizaeaceae) as S. pennula As control efforts on the invasive exotics increased, permission was granted in 2000 to collect S. pennula in order to test it for the non-indigenous Cataclysta camptozonale (Hampson) (Australian pyralid moth), a candidate biological control agent for Lygodium. In 2000, Marian Bailey, Wildlife Biologist at the Refuge, reviewed
the current knowledge of S. pennula (Bailey, 2000a) and carried out substantial work on it. She found the fern growing consistently on Osmunda cinnamomea L. (cinnamon fern) tussocks on large strand islands, south of the 1987 and 1991 locations (Bailey, 2000 b, c). At that time, there was speculation that the apparent change of habitat from rotting Persea stumps to O. cinnamomea tussocks may have been a response to changes in water level.
By 2009, a massive and costly control program for invasive exotics was underway in the interior of the Refuge. This has included aerial spraying with herbicides as well as on-ground cutting and spraying of tree-islands heavily infested with Old World climbing fern or Melaleuca. This program may threaten the S. pennula populations through contact with the herbicide, particularly since we observed newly germinated spores of the Old World climbing fern on the same tussocks as the S. pennula. Since it is so easily overlooked, S. pennula is also at risk from trampling by workers.
Field Studies
In order to prepare for field work, a search through the Refuge’s Annual Narratives, as well as the electronic files and correspondence found in the Refuge’s files was conducted. Although S. pennula has been noted as present on tree-islands several times since the late 70s, few accounts actually provide coordinates of the locations. Some documents referred to ‘on a tree-island near the Research Natural Area’, ‘located in north-central section
Figure 1: Tree-islands in the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Diane LaRue Figure 2: Schizaea pennula; (previously published in Ferns of Florida, by Gil Nelson; Pineapple Press) Photo by Gil Nelson. Figure 3: Schizaea pennula. Photo by Gil Nelson. Figure 4: Tree-island vegetation in the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Diane LaRue. 3
Historical and Current Occurrence of Endangered Schizaea pennula (continued)
of the refuge’ (1982 Narrative, p.36), ‘presence reconfirmed on three tree-islands while the Research Natural Area and deer hunt boundaries were being posted’ (1983 Narrative p.50), ‘in late November eight tree-islands scattered around central and southeast central part of the refuge were investigated ...found on seven of the eight...’ (1983 Narrative, p.50), ‘... found in two more locations in addition to the eight tree-islands discovered last year’ (1984 Narrative, p.52), ‘...new location on tree island west of the western portion of the canoe trail...’ (1985 Narrative, p.54). It is possible that the coordinates were not stated in the publicly available Narratives (for fear of poaching),
and that documents providing the coordinates were destroyed in the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes which ravaged the Refuge. Of the documents read, a total of 11 coordinates (determined by GPS) were found for S. pennula locations. These included the 5 coordinates from the large amount of field work conducted by Bailey in 2000, plus coordinates recorded in 2002-2003 by botanists with The Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC), when they were performing studies related to Lygodium control on tree-islands in the Refuge. Some of the recorded coordinates are located on the same strand island. We also found Loran coordinates from
1987 and 1991 correspondence in the Refuge’s biology files.
Confirmation of Former Sightings
Island 1 2002-2003 Strand 24
found Did not search entire island Island 2 2002-2003 Strand 19 4 10 Cinnamon fern tussocks, sphagnum moss
Island 5 2002-2003
0.0526
Base of live bay trunk; old bay mounds, swamp fern
Island 10 1991 Bayhead None found Has good habitat
Island 11 1991 Bayhead 0.0659 2 22 Old bay mounds
New Sightings
Island 12 Near Island 5 2009 Bayhead 0.1133 1 > 5 Center of island, open, mass of rotting stumps, mosses, leaf litter
Island 13 Small mammal studies 2009 Bayhead 0.0688 4 12 Swamp ferns, old bay stumps, live swamp bay
Island 14 Small mammal studies 2009 Bayhead 0.0801 3 > 5 Live swamp bay trunk, cinnamon fern tussock, rotting swamp bay
Island 15 Small mammal studies 2009 Bayhead 0.0688 4 17 Dahoon holly mound, live & stumps, swamp fern Swamp bay mound - rotting, live
Island 16 Small mammal studies 2009 Bayhead 0.089 None found Has potential habitat
Island 17 Small mammal studies 2009 Bayhead 0.1295 None found Has potential habitat
Island 18 New area west of ne cut 2009 Bayhead 0.109 None found Not good habitat
Island 19 New area west of ne cut 2009 Bayhead 0.0668 None found Small good habitat
Island 20 New area west of ne cut 2009 Bayhead 0.0585 None found Not good habitat
Island 21 New area west of ne cut 2009 Bayhead 0.058 None found Several sites good habitat
Island 22t New area west of ne cut 2009 Bayhead 0.0827 None found Good habitat
Island 23 New area west of ne cut 2009 Bayhead 0.045 None found Small good habitat
Island 24 New area west of ne cut 2009 Bayhead 0.1269 None found Good habitat
Island 25 Near ‘Research Natural Area’ 2009 Bayhead 0.0933 >5 21 Live swamp bays, old stump, swamp fern
Island 26 Near ‘Research Natural Area’ 2009 Bayhead 0.0616 5 >20 Dahoon holly mound, rotting stumps, swamp fern tussock, leaf litter
Island 27 Near ‘Research Natural Area’ 2009 Bayhead 0.118 None found Lygodium treated island with live and dead Lygodium
Island 28 Near ‘Research Natural Area’ 2009 Bayhead 0.055 None found Good habitat with dahoon holly, swamp bay
Island 29 Near ‘Research Natural Area’ 2009 Bayhead 0.037 1 8 Live swamp bay mounds
Island 30 Near ‘Research Natural Area’ 2009 Bayhead 0.0623 None found Too enclosed for good habitat
Island 31 Near ‘Research Natural Area’ 2009 Bayhead 0.0382 1 9 Rotting leaf litter in open
Island 32 Near ‘Research Natural Area’ 2009 Bayhead 0.1013 1 9 Base of live swamp bay, in rotting leaf litter
Island 33 2009 Strand 20 4 10 Cinnamon & swamp fern tussocks, swamp bay mound, dahoon holly mound
Island 34 2009 Bayhead 0.0462 3 6 Bases of live swamp bay trunks
Island 35 2009 Cypress is. None found Not good habitat
TABLE 1 – Summary of Schizaea pennula Field Findings
Several field trips to both bayhead and strand tree-islands were undertaken in March and April (2009) to confirm if these formerly located populations still existed. We also visited islands in areas where there had been anecdotal sightings, as well as treeislands that had been investigated for small mammal and tree growth studies. In addition, we looked on islands in the vicinity of the above searches that appeared to have suitable habitat. We also searched several bayhead islands to the northeast of any known sightings, west of the northeast cut airboat trail.
Table 1 summarizes the findings. Of the 35 islands searched we found live, healthy stems of S. pennula on 19 islands. Of the 11 islands previously noted to have S. pennula present, we were unable to locate one of the 1987 islands. Of the remaining 10, we found none on one of the 1991 bayhead islands and none on one of the strand islands. The latter was a 24 ha strand island and only a small portion was searched, so the fern might have been present on the island without our locating it. Of the 24 islands which were newly searched for S. pennula, plants were found on 11 islands. Of islands without S. pennula, 7 were located west of the northeast cut airboat trail in an area of the Refuge that had previously never been reported to have S. pennula, although several had what appeared to be potential habitat. One was a cypress island which provided a different vegetation community and was searched on the off chance S. pennula might be found there. Of the other islands where we did not find S. pennula, 3 appeared to have good habitat, 2 did not and 1 had been treated with herbicide for Lygodium control. Since the fern is of small stature and easily overlooked, our not finding it does not mean it is not there.
On the smaller bayhead or “popup” islands, the entire island was searched. On the larger strand islands we aimed for the coordinate we had and searched from there. Once S. pennula had been sighted, we looked in the nearby area to locate additional plants. When additional plants were found we recorded these as separate locations. On some bayheads, as on larger strand islands, there were several locations per island. We made rough notes on habitat and associated vegetation and became familiar with the fern’s typical habitat. Photos were taken at the entrance of each island and of most of the sightings. The coordinates of each sighting were taken with a GPS unit. The stems at a given site numbered from one to 12 although there were many locations with only one stem and very few had more than 2 or 3. Since plants were not dug up, it is not known how many stems could be from one root system. None of the strand islands were searched completely, so there may well be other locations on each of them.
Although this study was limited, the most outstanding conclusion from the field studies is that Schizaea pennula is living on many tree-islands in several regions of the Refuge and in a wider variety of habitats than previously reported. We found it in on both strand and bayhead islands, on mounds of live and rotting P. palustris, on mounds of live and rotting I. cassine, on Blechnum serrulatum L. C. Richard tussocks that are often growing out of P. palustris stumps, O. cinnamomea tussocks, along the base of large healthy P. palustris trunks, and rooted in decomposing leaf
litter in open areas on a bit higher portion of an island. Additional associated vegetation consisted of Myrica cerifera L. (wax myrtle), Cephalanthus occidentalis L. (buttonbush), Osmunda regalis L. (royal fern), Chrysobalanus icaco L. (coco plum) and the exotic invasive, Lygodium on some islands.
Other habitat observations include: S. pennula may or not be living associated obviously with bryophytes and lichens. It can be rooted in rotting bark and in rotting leaf litter. It is usually found in partially shaded, protected locations. Where the location is more open and exposed, it is found at micro sites protected by a stump or other vegetation. It is usually found on the inner portion of the island, but on some islands it was close to the edge of the island.
As has often been noted, and we heartily confirm, it is easily overlooked. Without further investigation, it is not known what the total Refuge population is, whether or not the Refuge population of S. pennula is increasing or decreasing and it is not known if each plant is long lived or if new plants are being produced. Further life history and demography studies are needed.
REFERENCES
Alexander, T. R. 1974. Schizaea germanii Rediscovered in Florida. Amer. Fern J. 64. p.30
Bailey, Marian, 2000b. Site description of Actinostachys pennula (ray spiked fern) at Lox NWR. Unpublished manuscript. 3pp.
Bailey, Marian, 2000a. Summary of Known Information on Actinostachys pennula (ray spiked fern). Unpublished manuscript. 9pp.
Bailey, Marian, 2000c. Field Research Report on Actinostachys pennula (ray spiked fern). Unpublished manuscript. 4pp.
Beckner, J. 1953. Schizaea germanii in Florida. Amer. Fern J. 43, pp.124-125.
Gann, G. D., K. A. Bradley and S.W. Woodmansee, 2002. Schizaea pennula Sw, Ray Fern in Rare Plants of South Florida; Their History, Conservation and Restoration, Institute for Regional Conservation, Chapter 5, Part 2, pp. 315-316. Accessed on-line
Martin, T. W, 1981. Schizaea germanii Fée (Prantl), Schizaeaceae, Tropical Curly Grass Fern. (Management Plan). 4 pp.
Nauman, C. E. 1987. Schizaeaceae in Florida. SIDA 12 (1), pp 69-74.
Small, J. K., 1918. Ferns of Royal Palm Hammock. Publ. By author. Accessed on-line November 2009 from http://books.google.com/
U.S, Fish and Wildlife Service. Annual Narrative Reports for Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, 1978 - 2006.
Woodmansee, S. W. And J. L. Sadle, 2005. New Occurrences of Schizaea pennula Sw. in Florida. Amer. Fern J. 95(2), pp 84-87.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the A. R. M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge for providing logistical and airboat support for this project and access to their electronic and hard copy files.
AUTHOR’S AFFILIATIONS
Diane LaRue – formerly: Visiting Researcher, A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Currently: Visiting Researcher, Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, 13640 SE Federal Hwy, Hobe Sound, FL 33455.
Gayle Martin – formerly: Biologist, A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.
SAVE THE DATE!
May 19-22, 2011, Maitland, Florida
by the hard-to-beat Team B, headed by Dr. Walter Taylor, who graciously came over after the event to express his condolences.
Friday morning we walked a half mile or so to the cavernous Leon County Civic Center, where conference programs – native plant sales, breakout sessions and workshops – were located. We found it hard to choose from among the many interesting talks featuring ecology, community, and research.
A stand out was Dr. Bruce Means’ presentation titled The Wild, Wild World of the Florida Panhandle which detailed the area’s amazing diversity of native plants. We learned that Ice Age remnant plant populations survive, with species such as columbine and trillium, and that other unique species are found only in the area, including Taxus floridana (Florida yew) and the endangered Torreya taxifolia (Florida torreya).
Twenty miles north of Tallahassee lies the Tall Timbers Research station, whose name derives from the giant Pinus echinata (shortleaf pine) growing on the grounds. Shortleaf pine does not occur naturally in peninsular Florida but grows from the Tallahassee area west to the Ozarks in Arkansas, and north to southern New York.
Physostegia purpurea (false dragonhead) Continued from page 2
After a hot day, the evening social at Tall Timbers was cool and pleasant. Outside tables were set up for a delicious meal of fish, barbecue chicken and beans. A live band, The Weeds, provided entertainment that let many people dance the night away. Nearby, hanging gourds housed a thriving colony of Purple Martins.
The FNPS Conference is an annual event, and the wonderful experiences to be had are just one more reason to join the Florida Native Plant Society. We’re looking forward to next year’s conference in Maitland.
Native Plants, Art and Science Merge in Botanical Chords
Artist/scientist Terry Ashley’s creative tools are not mere brushes and paint, but microscope, camera, and an eye for hidden structure.
After years as a research scientist, observing meiotic chromosome behavior under the microscope, she has a new mission – raising awareness and appreciation of the beauty that lies just below the resolution of human eyesight.
Terry explains, “While searching for a way to combine a micro image with a more recognizable view of plant subjects, I attended a presentation by Andre Gallant, a Canadian photographer. He was creating ‘slide sandwiches’ that consisted of a subject slide and a texture slide. It was then I realized that here was a way of combining the two types of images. This led to the creation of what I call Botanical Chords”.
A dynamic example of the result is seen in her work Florida Anise (above). The micro image, which forms the background, is taken with a light microscope. The macro image (in this case the anise flower) is photographed with a camera. These are composed into a single impression of the species depicted, revealing its hidden form and texture.
Terry Ashley’s work will be featured in the exhibit Botanical Chords of Florida Native Plants, on display at the Presidents Hall of Santa Fe College, Gainesville, Florida. The exhibit runs from September 28 to November 8, 2010.
About the Artist
Terry Ashley received a BA from Duke in Botany, a PhD from Florida State University in genetics and spent the last 19 years of her scientific career as a research scientist at Yale University School of Medicine.
COVER PHOTO: Florida Anise (Illicium floridanum)
Native Bromeliads of Florida
Reviewed by Chuck McCartney
Among plants adding to the tropical ambience of much of Florida’s natural landscape are members of the plant family Bromeliaceae, the bromeliads. These are our so-called “air plants,” and they are the most commonly seen and widespread group of epiphytes, or tree-growing plants, found in our state.
Bromeliaceae is sometimes called the pineapple family because that ground-growing species, Ananas comosus from Brazil, is the most familiar representative of the group. But equally familiar to people who have traveled in the American South is Spanish Moss, Tillandsia usneoides, which is, at first glance, about as unpineapple-like as you can get. But this most widespread of all bromeliads –it ranges from coastal Virginia all the way south to central Argentina and is found in all 67 counties of Florida – is one of the 16 species and two presumed natural hybrids in the family considered native to our state.
These plants are spotlighted in an excellent new book titled Native Bromeliads of Florida by Harry E. Luther and David H. Benzing. At just 126 pages, this concise, informative book is published – appropriately enough – by Sarasota’s Pineapple Press for the modest price of $16.95. It is nicely illustrated with black-andwhite pictures and a few line drawings plus 38 generally high-quality color photographs depicting all the species discussed.
Harry Luther is the resident bromeliad expert at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota. David Benzing, who holds a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Michigan, has researched and written extensively on vascular epiphytes, especially
bromeliads and orchids. Thus, the reader of Native Bromeliads of Florida could not ask for a more authoritative pair of writers on the subject.
The book delineates Florida’s 18 native bromeliads, including the three that do not occur in the southern end of the state – Tillandsia bartramii, the apparently endemic Tillandsia simulata, and Tillandsia x floridana, a putative hybrid of T. bartramii and T. fasciculata var. densispica.
It also discusses familiar South Florida species, such as the widespread and beautiful Tillandsia fasciculata, with its flame red flower spikes (even though the red comes from colorful bracts protecting the small, tubular purple flowers) and the even more widespread but not so beautiful Ball Moss, Tillandsia recurvata. There’s a discussion of our largest bromeliad, Tillandsia utriculata, which is unique among our native species in that it flowers only once then dies. The rarities also are covered, including the tiny Catopsis nutans, which is known in the state only from the Fakahatchee Strand, and the comical and/or eerie little Fuzzy-Wuzzy Air Plant, Tillandsia pruinosa, which doesn’t venture very far from the Fakahatchee. Also with its major Florida populations in the Fakahatchee is Guzmania monostachia, the only member of that genus in the state. And then we learn about our insect-eating “carnivorous” air plant, Catopsis berteroniana
Each of these bromeliads and the others in the state is treated with a short chapter that includes a brief taxonomic history of the species, a dot distribution map showing in which of Florida’s 67 counties the species occurs, a description of the plant and a discussion of its habitat
as well a mention of its distribution outside Florida, plus other interesting tidbits about the species.
There is also a dichotomous key to help distinguish among the three native bromeliad genera (Catopsis, Guzmania and Tillandsia), with further keys to the three Catopsis species and 14 tillandsias. The keys are written in language that’s fairly easy to understand for the amateur, and there is a glossary in the back of the book to help with any unfamiliar terms.
But what makes this book equally informative is the introductory material. In just 42 pages, the authors provide a primer on the family Bromeliaceae, which is made up of some 3,400 species mainly in the New World tropics and subtropics, with an odd outlier in adjacent West Africa. In clear, accessible prose, the authors discuss the anatomy and physiology of bromeliads, as well as providing a brief look at the general taxonomy of the family, always putting the Florida species into context within the topic being discussed. There is also a discussion about the threat to our bromeliads by the invasive Metamesius beetle.
This introductory material is invaluable, as is the whole volume. Students and lovers of our indigenous flora will definitely want to add Native Bromeliads of Florida to their library. And it’s a publishing bargain to boot.
Native Bromeliads of Florida
Harry E. Luther and David H. Benzing
Pineapple Press: Sarasota, Florida
ISBN: 978-1561644483
$16.95
Jessica Wheeler
Pricing the Priceless
Tern Eggs. Illustration by David Moynahan
The Pine Island Sound estuary is fed by the Caloosahatchee River, which funnels fresh water from Lake Okeechobee to Florida’s southwest coast. From above, one can see that the sound is cradled by a ring of delicate barrier islands. Between the barrier islands and the mainland is a constellation of mangrove islands. Each mangrove island is, in turn, dotted with its own constellation of birds – egrets, herons, ibis, pelicans, cormorants, and anhingas. These species nest communally on the islands during the summer, feeding themselves and their young on the bounty of the estuary.
For several summers, I assisted with a study on the nesting success of these birds as part of an internship with J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. On one occasion I saw an egret emerge, sodden and helpless, from its egg. I saw the first crack appear and watched the egg move as the tiny bird pecked with amazing force from within. Its beak emerged, and then its head, with streaks of white down clinging damply to its alien-green flesh. I tallied the new hatchling’s presence in my field notebook.
After motoring safely back to the mainland, I entered this tally, among many others, into a database. The database stretched back to the 1990s and displayed in vivid graphs the steady decline of wading and diving birds. The decline seemed direct and unstoppable, caused by overdevelopment of the coasts and the impaired water quality that goes with it. Later in 2005, the estuary was besieged with massive amounts of water from the “management” of Lake Okeechobee, approximately 2.9 billion gallons of nutrient-rich fresh water per day. Then Hurricane Charlie hit. One disaster was man-made, the other natural, but together they pushed the ecosystem to the brink. Fish washed up dead on the beaches. Seagrasses and mangroves died. The wading birds, existing near the top of the ecosystem, were negatively impacted as well. The following year, nest success was incredibly low.
Tourists, who traveled from faraway places to see Sanibel Island’s magnificent birds, expressed sore
disappointment. I was beyond disappointment. I felt betrayed. I had grown up seeing flocks of thousands of egrets, ibis, and roseate spoonbills. I had seen them fish in the murky shallows, their reflections caught in the folds of waves. As disheartening as this decline has been, I feel the estuary is capable of coming back. But not if disturbances continue, day by day, year by year. Like an injured person, the estuary needs time to recuperate before taking on another battle.
A battle like oil.
These estuaries not only tie together Florida’s natural environments – providing a link between the terrestrial forests and the plains of seagrass lying below the surface of the water – they also tie together people often otherwise at odds. Fishermen rely on these delicate habitats as nurseries for important commercial and recreational fish species. Together, these species bring in over $6.5 billion every year. Conservationists realize estuaries’ value as some of the few remaining nesting areas for threatened wading and diving birds. Those who inhabit the coast value the importance of mangroves and other marshlands in stabilizing the shifting lands of low-lying south Florida. Tourists and locals alike adore the beauty, tranquility, and feeling of awe one gets upon entering a mangrove tunnel or strolling down a pristine beach. And those in the tourist industry know good money when they see it – over $25 billion a year in coastal tourism.
For these reasons, I was shocked to learn that Florida lawmakers were considering oil exploration
near one of the most delicate environments on earth, a place where slight changes in salinity, water clarity, and nutrient and pollution levels can throw off the balance of the ecosystem.
I want to know who can look at the sunny expanse of Florida and see potential for oil exploration, rather than the refinement of solar energy. I want to know who thinks jobs will be created at a time when alternative energy sources are America’s only hope for future energy independence. We need to admit that the measly amount of oil Florida could contribute would do nothing to lower the price of gas at the pumps. And I want to know who is funding the lobbying that says otherwise.
Beyond this, I want to see Florida legislators stand up to big money. After failing to fight the sugar industry’s destructive habits, even with the Everglades at stake, I need to see lawmakers stand up for Florida’s coasts.
While we’re at it, why don’t we talk about costs?
I want my legislators to tell me how much money Florida would make by allowing oil drilling in our pristine waters. Then tell me if they’ve accounted the cost, both in capital and in ecological damage, of dealing with an oil spill – the cost of cleaning up the oil, the dead birds and fish. Have they accounted for the cost of dune restoration? Seagrass restoration? Oyster reef restoration? Is the attempt to recreate fragile coastal ecosystems included in the estimation of job creation? What about the attempt to reinvigorate confidence in the safety of oil rigs during hurricanes? Could money bring back the tourist industry?
reverberated through the entire food chain. Moreover, once oil enters an estuary, it takes decades for it to be removed. It doesn’t take an actual spill for pollutants to find their way to the water and reach the coast. During normal operation, oil rigs dump toxic drilling fluid, heavy metals, and carcinogens into the oceans, as well as pollute the air much like city traffic. These toxins will not only affect sea life – they will impact those of us who live on, play in, and eat from the Gulf. Should we, as Floridians, believe that the possible gain of oil exploration will outweigh these negative impacts?
Pricing the Priceless is excerpted from the new book
Unspoiled – Writers Speak for Florida’s Coast, edited by Susan Cerulean, Janisse Ray, and A. James Wohlpart.
To order the book, visit www.Unspoiledbook.com
The bill passed by the House would allow oil drilling to occur three to ten miles off the Gulf coast of Florida. Because oil spreads from a spill at an astonishing rate, approximately 197 feet per second, it wouldn’t take long for the oil to reach the estuaries, marshes, and beaches. And we cannot pretend an oil spill wouldn’t occur in a place that is famous for its hurricane activity. The effects would be devastating. An oil spill that occurred near the entrance to the Panama Canal in 1986 has been well documented. First, bands of dead mangroves appeared along the coast – their roots, along with the oysters, barnacles, and sponges that live on them, were covered with a suffocating film of oil. Transplanted mangrove seedlings were not able to survive in these polluted areas. Seagrasses in intertidal zones were killed through direct exposure to the oil at low tides. Other seagrass species died off slowly from subsequent algal blooms. Here in Florida, that would mean manatees would have nowhere to graze. Shrimp were killed by the Panama Canal spill and their diminished presence
I’ve watched the cycle of life and death in the estuaries. I’ve seen the estuary nearly destroyed and then, amazingly, recover. I’ve seen old and young alike awestruck by a fiddler crab clinging to the aerial roots of a mangrove. I’ve seen thousands of people flock to estuary refuges for one glimpse of the abundance of birds and wildlife thriving there. I’ve watched a manatee calf follow her meandering mother through the beds of healthy seagrass. I’ve watched dolphins jump for sheer joy. I’ve seen the exuberant face of a child after catching her first sheepshead. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge fell to pieces after the discharged water from Lake Okeechobee and the lashing winds of Hurricane Charlie. With time, patience, and the loving dedication of Florida’s citizens, the estuary is almost back. Maybe we’ll never again see the abundance of birds and wildlife documented by the pioneers of Florida; maybe the fisheries will always be a shadow of what they once were. But, if we take care now, maybe we can preserve them as they are today. Maybe, if we fight big issues like coastal development and oil, we can hold on to these idyllic scenes.
Florida’s coasts are not a place. They are a way of life. They symbolize both natural and man-made prosperity. I know I speak for millions when I say that Florida is who I am. Taking advantage of Florida’s precious coasts for the sake of temporary monetary gain destroys the people who love this state for what it is – paradise.
About the Author
Jessica Wheeler recently graduated from New College of Florida with a degree in ecology. She is currently at Archbold Biological Station in central Florida, where she studies an endangered scrub mint, chases cows, and sings songs about Florida. Her writing career is just beginning.
The Florida Native Plant Society PO Box 278 Melbourne FL 32902-0278
FNPS Chapters and Representatives
For chapter contact information, visit www.fnps.org. Go to Join FNPS and click on the Find a Chapter link.
1. Citrus ...........................................Jim Bierly .....................................jbierly@tampabay.rr.com
2. Coccoloba ....................................Dick Workman ..............................wworkmandick@aol.com
3. Columbia (Pineywoods) .................Susan Sloan .................................mlliddens1@yahoo.com
4. Cocoplum .....................................Anne Cox......................................anne.cox@bellsouth.net
5. Conradina .....................................Vince Lamb ..................................vince@advanta-tech.com
6. Coontie .........................................Kirk Scott ....................................kirkel1@yahoo.com
7. Cuplet Fern....................................Deborah Green .............................watermediaservices@mac.com
8. Dade ............................................Lynka Woodbury ...........................lwoodbury@fairchildgarden.org
9. Eugenia ........................................Judy Avril .....................................jfavril@aol.com
10. Heartland .....................................Amee Bailey .................................ameebailey@polk-county.net
11. Hernando .....................................Brooke Martin ..............................brooke_martin@mac.com
12. Ixia ...............................................Jake Ingram .................................jakeingramla@comcast.net
13. Lake Beautyberry .........................Jon Pospisil ..................................jsp@isp.com
14. Lakelas Mint .................................Ann Marie Loveridge ....................loveridges@comcast.net
15. Longleaf Pine ...............................Amy Hines....................................amy@sidestreamsports.com .................................................Cheryl Jones ................................wjonesmd@yahoo.com
16. Lyonia ...........................................Jim McCuen .................................jimmccuen@yahoo.com
17. Magnolia ......................................Ann Redmond ..............................aredmond@mindspring.com
18. Mangrove .....................................Al Squires ....................................ahsquires@embarqmail.com
19. Marion ..........................................Jim Coulliard ...............................jrc-rla@cox.net
20. Naples ..........................................Ron Echols ...................................preservecaptains@aol.com
21. Nature Coast ................................Marilyn Smullen ...........................
22. Palm Beach ..................................Lynn Sweetay...............................lynnsweetay@hotmail.com
23. Pawpaw .......................................Elizabeth Flynn .............................eliflynn@cfl.rr.com
24. Paynes Prairie ..............................Heather Blake ..............................butterflygirlh@yahoo.com
25. Pine Lily .......................................Chris Matson ................................matson@bellsouth.net
26. Pinellas ........................................Debbie Chayet ..............................dchayet@verizon.net
27. Sarracenia ....................................Bill Petty.......................................sarracenia.nps@gmail.com
28. Sea Oats ......................................Jill Ziebell.....................................jziebell@bellsouth.net
29. Sea Rocket ..................................Paul Schmalzer ............................paul.a.schmalzer@nasa.gov
30. Seminole ......................................Deborah Green .............................watermediaservices@mac.com
31. Serenoa ........................................Dave Feagles ...............................feaglesd@msn.com
32. South Ridge .................................. Volunteer Needed .........................executivedirector@fnps.org
33. Sumter .........................................Carol Jean Miller ..........................caroljean_miller@comcast.net
34. Suncoast .....................................Troy Springer................................president@suncoastNPS.org
35. Sweet Bay ...................................Ina Crawford ................................ina.crawford@tyndall.af.mil
36. Tarflower ......................................Jackie Rolly..................................j.y.rolly@att.net
37. University of Central Florida ...........Nena Brown .................................oceaniris@gmail.com
Volunteer opportunity: volunteer needed for Okaloosa/Walton County area.