A Meadow Amid a Swamp

Despite the name, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary isn't just swamp. Like everywhere else in Florida, small changes in elevation can cause major changes in habitat. Here, a wet meadow, or wet prairie, has formed on land that is slightly higher than the swamp that dominates the left side of the photo. It's still wet ground, perhaps with standing water during the rainy season, but dries out a bit come late fall and winter. It's not wet enough to sustain cypress, but here you'll find roundpod St. John's wort growing, yellow-eyed grasses, skyflower, Everglades morning glories, bladderworts along with a variety of sedges and grasses and other moisture-loving plants that can tolerate the dry times. Toward the edge of the meadow, where it begins to meet the swamp, these plants mix with some cypress, forming a transition zone called an ecotone. Note: this is the beginning of a stretch of the boardwalk that takes you through the pond cypress swamp; Corkscrew's famous bald cypress swamp is a bit down the trail from here. Click the links to find out the difference between the two trees.

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