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The longleaf pine is a pine native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Maryland, extending into northern and central Florida. It reaches a height of 30–35 m (98–115 ft) and a diameter of 0.7 m (28 in). In the past, before extensive logging, they reportedly grew to 47 m (154 ft) with a diameter of 1.2 m (47 in). The tree is a cultural symbol of the Southern United States, being the official state tree of Alabama.
Quercus laevis, the turkey oak, is a member of the red oak group of oaks. It is native to the southeastern United States, occurring on the coastal plain from Virginia south to central Florida, and west to southeast Louisiana. There they mingle with many tropical trees such as mature coconut palms and large Cuban Laurel (Ficus) trees. The name turkey oak derives from the resemblance of the leaves to a turkey's foot. A Turkish and southern European species Quercus cerris is also commonly referred to as Turkey oak, so Quercus laevis is sometimes referred to as American turkey oak to distinguish it from the European species.
A sandhill is a type of ecological community or xeric wildfire-maintained ecosystem. It is not the same as a sand dune. It features very short fire return intervals, one to five years. Without fire, sandhills undergo ecological succession and become more oak dominated.
Myakka River State Park is a Florida State Park, that is located nine miles (14 km) east of Interstate 75 in Sarasota County and a portion of southeastern Manatee County on the Atlantic coastal plain. This state park consists of 37,000 acres (150 km2), making it one of the state's largest parks. It is also one of the oldest parks in the state. It was delineated in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. A small portion of the park was the gift of the family of Bertha Palmer to the state. The park is named after the Myakka River.
Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park is a Florida State Park located on the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida, southeast of Niceville. The address is 4281 Highway 20. Native American middens and artifacts can be seen throughout the park.
The Sandhills or Carolina Sandhills is a 10-35 mi wide physiographic region within the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain province, along the updip (inland) margin of this province in the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The extent of the Carolina Sandhills is shown clearly in maps of the ecoregions of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The Ocala National Forest ls the second largest nationally protected forest in the U.S. State of Florida. It covers 607 square miles (1,570 km2) of Central Florida. It is located three miles (5 km) east of Ocala and 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Gainesville. The Ocala National Forest, established in 1908, is the oldest national forest east of the Mississippi River and the southernmost national forest in the continental U.S. The word Ocala is thought to be a derivative of a Timucuan term meaning "fair land" or "big hammock". The forest is headquartered in Tallahassee, as are all three National Forests in Florida, but there are local ranger district offices located in Silver Springs and Umatilla.
The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida. It encompasses 632,890 acres and is the only national forest located in the Florida Panhandle. The National Forest provides water and land-based outdoors activities such as off-road biking, hiking, swimming, boating, hunting, fishing, horse-back riding, and off-road ATV usage.
Hammock is a term used in the southeastern United States for stands of trees, usually hardwood, that form an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem. Hammocks grow on elevated areas, often just a few inches high, surrounded by wetlands that are too wet to support them. The term hammock is also applied to stands of hardwood trees growing on slopes between wetlands and drier uplands supporting a mixed or coniferous forest. Types of hammocks found in the United States include tropical hardwood hammocks, temperate hardwood hammocks, and maritime or coastal hammocks. Hammocks are also often classified as hydric, mesic or xeric. The types are not exclusive, but often grade into each other.
The Billies Bay Wilderness is part of Ocala National Forest. The 3,092-acre (13 km2) wilderness was established on September 28, 1984. The mostly marshy and swampy nature of the area is indicated by the word 'bay' as part of the name, since this is a Floridian term for swamp. It contributes to the headwaters of Alexander Springs Creek in the nearby Alexander Springs Wilderness.
Florida sand pine scrub is an endangered subtropical forest ecoregion found throughout Florida in the United States. It is found on coastal and inland sand ridges and is characterized by an evergreen xeromorphic plant community dominated by shrubs and dwarf oaks. Because the low-nutrient sandy soils do not retain moisture, the ecosystem is effectively an arid one. Wildfires infrequently occur in the Florida scrub. Most of the annual rainfall falls in summer. It is endangered by residential, commercial and agricultural development, with the largest remaining block in and around the Ocala National Forest. Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge also holds a high proportion of remaining scrub habitat, while the Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid contains about 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi) of scrub habitat and sponsors biological research on it.
The Mediterranean woodlands and forests is an ecoregion, of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, in the coastal plains, hills, and mountains bordering the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean in North Africa.
The eastern savannas of the United States covered large portions of the southeast side of the continent until the early 20th century. These were in a fire ecology of open grassland and forests with low ground cover of herbs and grasses.
The Middle Atlantic coastal forests are a temperate coniferous forest mixed with patches of evergreen broadleaved forests along the coast of the southeastern United States.
Quercus incana is a species of oak known by the common names bluejack oak, upland willow oak, sandjack oak, and cinnamon oak. It is native to the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains of the United States, from Virginia around Florida to Texas and inland to Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The Southeastern conifer forests are a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the southeastern United States. It is the largest conifer forest ecoregion east of the Mississippi River.
The Southern coastal plain oak dome and hammock is a forest type occurring in small patches in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. These forests consist of thick stands of evergreen oaks on shallow depressions or slight hills. They are distinct from their surrounding habitats, which are often woodlands dominated by longleaf pine.
The Atlantic coastal plain upland longleaf pine woodland is plant community found on the southern Atlantic coastal plain, in the states of southern Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and northeastern Florida.
The Florida peninsula inland scrub is a shrubland community found on the Florida peninsula. The largest remaining blocks of inland scrub are in and around the Ocala National Forest and in the Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge. The Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid contains about 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi) of scrub habitat and sponsors biological research on it. The scrub occurs on a series of north-south running ridges composed of sand derived from ancient dune fields. The soil, a type of entisol, is derived from quartz and is low in organic matter, silt, and clay. Because the low-nutrient sandy soils do not retain moisture, the ecosystem is effectively an arid one.
The Indian Lake State Forest is approximately 4,466 acres of gently rolling sandhills and pastures just north of historic Silver Springs in Marion County, Florida. This property was acquired in 2007 and 2008 under the Florida Forever program, with additional money from Marion County and help from The Nature Conservancy, Silver Springs Working Group, and the Department of Environmental Protection.
References
- ↑ "Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill". NatureServe Explorer. Retrieved 17 January 2013.