First-time visitors to Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park might wonder, "where's the swamp?" as they enter the park and begin making their way down Janes Scenic Drive. A vast, open prairie dominates the landscape on both sides of the road. It's grasses and sedges punctuated by a few lonely cabbage palms and small, stunted cypress trees. These cypress, sometimes called hat rack cypress, can be mature trees decades old, yet stand a dozen feet tall, or less because of the nutrient-poor soils in which they grow. The soil here is thin and has a high calcium content, and sits atop limestone bedrock. Marl prairies become inundated with water parter of the year, preventing frees from dominating the landscape. NEXT STOP: Down Janes Scenic Drive
