A Study of the Vegetation in the Florida Everglades

Abstract

The Everglades of southern Florida comprises one of the largest freshwater marshes on the North American continent and contains the largest single body of organic soils in the world (Stephens 1956). This extensive basin began as a Pliocene sea bottom (Parker and Cooke 1944) and covers an area approximately 100 miles long by 40 miles wide. The Everglades vegetation formation itself, however, is relatively young. Carbon-14 tests have shown that the oldest peat soils in the upper Everglades area are only about 5,000 years old (Stephens 1956). Until recently the history of this marsh has been one of unwise drainage programs, exploitation and near destruction. As an outgrowth of this the Florida Legislature enacted a plan in 1949 to execute a sound multiple purpose water conservation program in the Everglades. This plan resulted in the establishment of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District and provided for construction of large water retention units called Conservation Areas. In accordance with the program, the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission was given the responsibility of managing the wildlife resources of 726,000 acres in Conservation Areas 2 and 3 (Fig. 1). These two units comprise the Everglades Wildlife Management Area. In order that wildlife might be properly managed it was necessary that a study on the vegetation of the area be conducted. This paper presents some of the findings of the inivestigation. The Everglades is a large freshwater marsh of very low relief whose flat physiognomy is broken 1 A note of thanks is due H. E. Wallace, E. B. Chamberlain, Jr., Frank Ligas, and Wt. T. Ware of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission for assistance in various phases of the investigation. The writer is grateful to Dr. John H. Davis and Dr. Stephen L. Beckwith, University of Florida, and Dr. Taylor R. Alexander, University of Miami, for their review of the manuscript. Personnel of these institutions also assisted in plant identifications which is acknowledged. only by slightly elevated sites called tree islands or bayheads. The area's principal vegetational components are the sawgrass marshes, wet prairies, slough aquatic communities and tree island communities. Surface water is usually present over the entire region for the greater portion of most years but during extensive droughts the area is almost completely dry and often swept by fire. A mantle of organic peat or muck covers most of the Everglades. These deposits are underlain with a calcareous limestone stratum of recent marine origin. Characteristic climatic features are the marked seasonal variations in rainfall, gen-