The Everglades are situated in a semi-tropical climate. The average yearly rainfall varies from sixty inches at Miami to fifty inches at Okeechobee.⁵¹ The yearly variation is considerable, and even the distribution within the year produces wet and dry seasons. Temperatures vary from the summer high of 98° F. to winter temperatures as low as 9° F. under conditions of very low water in the open glades.⁵² "The region is . . . remarkable for the fact that it is a meeting place for many temperate and tropical types of plants and animals."⁵³

The plant ecologist has divided the vegetation of the Everglades into six broad types, with the general areas covered, by them as follows: (1) custard apple and willow-elderberry zone along the eastern and southern shores of Lake 0keechobee- 140,000 acres; (2) saw grass marsh plains of the northern and central glades- 1,000,000 acres; (3) saw grass and wax myrtle or bay-berry thicket, areas along the sides of the central plain- 240,000 acres; (4) slough and tree-island areas north of the Hillsboro Canal and west of the Miami Canal- 775,000 acres; (5) mixed marshes and wet prairies east and west of the central plain sough of the Tamiami Trail- 300,000 acres; and (6) bordering prairies with scattered hammocks and stands of trees along the borders of the Everglades- 145,000 acres.⁵⁵

A majority of the plants in this great partially submerged bog stem from aquatic families. Covering the larger part of the Everglades, the saw grass has been the predominant growth which has impressed every traveler in the area. Misnamed a grass, this luxuriant growth is in fact a sedge whose leaves are armed on their edges with teeth like a rip saw and ". . . attain a length of seven feet and in the spring or early summer the plant sends up a nearly round flower stem to a height of ten feet or more."⁵⁶ The water hyacinth, a naturalized plant, has become as predominant on the canals of the Everglades as the saw grass on the soils.⁵⁷ Introduced into Florida just before the turn of the nineteenth century, the hyacinth has completely outstripped its floating cousin, the water lettuce, which Heilprin noted in the Taylor's Creek swamps in 1886.⁵⁸

In the sloughs and deeper waters of the glades, where not crowded out by the saw grass, are found other grasses and water plants. Hugh Willoughby encountered great masses of an underwater grass similar to that used in aquaria, and to which he attributed, the clarity of lower Everglades waters.⁵⁹ Gama grass, oftimes cultivated for ornament in gardens, with its twelve-foot-long flowering stems, cattails and their accompanying reeds, giant foxtail similar to domesticated millet, common reeds, boneset, elegant thalia, bull-rushes, and maiden cane form but a part of the prolific plant life in the grassy water.⁶⁰ ". . . handsome blue nama and two charming pond lilies, one . . . with yellow and the other . . . with white flowers;"⁶¹ arrowheads with lance shaped leaves; pickerel weed, with spikes of blue flowers; water arums, like jacks-in-the-pulpit; and spider lilies all contribute to the twelve hundred species of native and naturalized flowering plants growing on the lower mainland of Florida, many of which are located on the glades and island hammocks below Lake Okeechobee. With the advent of artificial drainage and the creation of spoil banks came a rank growth of poke-weed, pickerel weed, pig-weed, and water hemp. The amazing growth of these annual plants to a height of twenty feet may lead the unsuspecting to mistake them for a real forest.⁶²

Through the length and breadth of the Everglades, and especially near the eastern and western edges, marsh shrubs and trees grow in isolated clumps or on the islands. Among them, the amphibian willow, elderberry, wax myrtle, swamp bay, cocoa plum, and the custard apple predominate. For many years the eastern and southern shores were bordered with a two to three mile belt of the custard apple, flanked to the rear by the elderberry.⁶³ In 1911 a traveler made the first note of the moonvine covering the custard apple growth almost in its entirety, like a green mantle.⁶⁴ Growing on the small islands on the edge of the glades and forming a dense green foliage on the streams, the cocoa plum with its insipid purple and white fruit was used by the Seminole as a part of his diet.⁶⁵

On the larger islands or keys in the area, as well as on the eastern and northern shores of Lake Okeechobee, many large trees were found. Here grew the live oak, cypress, maple, bay, and a few of the long leaf pine.

Among the climbing plants, always indigenous to tropical climes, W. E. Safford catalogued many interesting specimens. Wild grapes, hunter's vine with the sap filled stem for drinking, cockspur, and the climbing brambles caught his attention among the myriad plants of the hammocks and glades. In the limbs of the trees and amidst the vines encompassing them he located many modest and inconspicuous orchids and other epiphytes. Of these the creeping, spider, shell, chintz-flowered, and marsh orchids he believed attractive for their odd forms and fragrance. Included among the other air plants collected were the resurrection fern, Spanish moss, the pineapple-like bromeliads, and a number of tree ferns.⁶⁷

One of the most utilitarian members of the plant life of the Everglades is the cabbage palm or sabal palmetto. This palm grows to a majestic height on the islands of the glades and adjoining prairies. Its trunk is used for building purposes, its leaves for thatch, and the tender bud at the heart of the uppermost end of the trunk is a succulent food when properly cooked. It is known locally as swamp cabbage. The royal palm, found on Paradise Key, grows only in hammock or wet soil. These palms, with a clean, gray, and smooth trunk, crowned by ten or twelve shining and deep, dark green leaves, rise as high as a hundred and twenty feet. Describing the royal palms on Paradise Key in 1921, Charles T. Simpson wrote:

The animal life of the region of the Everglades is equally as varied as the plant life. Safford in his paper on the natural history of Paradise Key and the surrounding glades wrote that "the insect fauna alone must certainly include thousands of species. . . ."⁶⁹ Charles T. Simpson, in one of his many fascinating books on the flora and fauna of southern Florida, commented that one hundred twenty-eight species of birds had been sighted on or near the same locality and a considerable variety of small mammals, fish, and frogs.⁷⁰

Of great interest to naturalists, the shell life of the Everglades has produced many specimens of crustacea and gastropada. The tree snails found on the trees of the islands are among the most attractive of their species, with their shells of varying and beautiful colors.⁷¹ The marsh snails thrive in the grassy waters and furnish a large food staple to the bird life in the area. Crawfish abound throughout the grassy waters and likewise form a part of the diet of the marsh birds. Centipedes and scorpions are found on the islands in large numbers around rotting logs and other vegetable matter.

In his study of the insect life of the Key and its environs, Safford was able to collect and classify a large number of spiders, white ants or termites, dragon flies, roaches, grasshoppers, beetles, moths, butterflies, ants, wasps, bees, hornets, and flies.

The mosquitoes of Florida, and especially southern Florida, are renowned for their painful bite. Simpson related an incident where the insects covered the exposed parts of his body until the skin could not be seen. With cheeks swollen and eyelids puffed from the poisoning, he could scarcely see, and felt stupid with a desire to lie and sleep. One of his companions, not so badly affected, was able to find some wild limes, the juice of which he applied to the swollen parts, and relieved Simpson almost instantly. He noted that there were well authenticated instances in Florida and elsewhere of death occurring from the attack of mosquitoes.⁷³

Equally blood-thirsty are the Florida horsefly and deer fly. Zane Grey, on a hunting and fishing trip through the Ten Thousand Islands and Shark River waters in 1924, reported the following experience:

The several varieties of horseflies in South Florida can become the most annoying of pests, "often flying after automobiles and railway trains; so annoying . . . to painters and other workmen that they have to protect themselves by means of portable smudges."⁷⁵ Simpson pointed out the curious nuptial flights of the males in which they swarmed in millions, "making an almost deafening noise."⁷⁶ Several members of the deer fly family, smaller and more brightly colored than the horseflies but just as blood thirsty, have been found throughout the area. Other types of flies thriving in the glades include the soldier fly, the Midas fly, the tachina fly, and the screw-worm fly. The last, a terrible little fly, lays its eggs in wounds or in the nostrils of living animals. "It has even been known to deposit its eggs in the nostrils of human beings sleeping out of doors, but this is a rare occurrence."⁷⁷ The larvae from the hatched eggs, known as screw worms, eat the flesh of the host, and stock owners must be ever alert to arrest the ravages of this insect.

Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades have been near perfect homes for fish, especially in times of high water. During these periods the fish go into the weedy sections bordering the lake and the glades to enjoy new feeding grounds. Without doubt, the most interesting species of fish in the region is the predatory alligator gar. It looks for all the world like a freak of prehistoric ages and ichthyologists find it is a direct descendant. John C. Gifford, pioneer Miami resident, related an incident in which he had been attracted by a great stench in the glades during a season of low water. Approaching a great pool of water, he saw garfish by the thousands in the slowly falling water.

The vertebrae of the garfish are similar to ball and socket joints, and the head may move independently. The scales, arranged in diagonal rows, are fitted together by a system of hooks and do not lap each other. Simpson declared the scales to be so hard that fire could be struck from them with the use of steel.⁷⁹

The black or big-mouthed bass roamed the length and breadth of the Everglades prior to the beginning of drainage operations. The black bass is the pluckiest of Florida fresh-water game fish and when feeding will strike at a likely moving object. Specimens of twenty pounds or over have been taken from the peninsular waters. While in the lower glades in 1896, Hugh Willoughby crossed many pools ten feet wide and five feet deep which, he said, were inhabited by black bass up to a foot in length.⁸⁰ Bass that jumped into the boats of the Ingraham expedition furnished the men with a part of their bill of fare when they crossed the middle glades in 1892.⁸¹ Other fish found in the Everglades include the gamy and voracious mud or dogfish, which is "one of the hardest fighters that ever took the hook."⁸² Catfish, shiners, kill fish, sunfish, bluegill bream, and numerous minnows are found in the lakes, pools, and sloughs of the Everglades.

Perhaps the fauna which most quickly come to mind, at the mention of the Everglades are the reptiles, the largest of which are alligators. "These huge animals are not at all dangerous, but will flee at the sight of a man and will not show fight unless brought to bay."⁸³ Heilprin noted an instance of a gator feeding in the Okeechobee-Hicpochee Canal by grabbing a turtle and pulling it under the water. Naturalists have found that the alligator feeds on practically any animal that passes within its reach. On his trip through the very southern end of the glades Zane Grey came upon a Seminole encamped at the headwaters of Lostman's River with a catch of eleven gators for a night's work.⁸⁴

The Everglades are well supplied with a great variety of snakes. The cottonmouth or water moccasin, a lover of wet and swampy lands, is perhaps the most unpopular and predominant of the snake population. The snake is very poisonous and dreaded by all travelers in the glades. The diamondback and ground rattlesnakes are encountered occasionally, but both these rattlers prefer a drier habitat. Garter, water, black racer, gopher, coachwhip, and green tree snakes are additional members of the family encountered in the glades.⁸⁵

Practically all of the birds which frequent the states of the eastern seaboard are found in or near the Everglades at some time of the year. The distinctive members of the feathered animals in the glades are those who frequent a watered plain for a natural habitat. Of these, the roseate spoonbill and the flamingo have almost disappeared from the Everglades. As late as 1887, several flocks of the spoonbill, a rose tinted heron with a shovel shaped bill, were found in the Everglades. The snowy egret and the white ibis, once the prey of plume hunters and threatened with extinction but now protected by the wardens of the law, are presented in large flocks throughout the area.⁸⁷

Angelo Heilprin found the swampy prairie from Fort Thompson to Lake Okeechobee a virtual paradise for birds; at Taylor's Creek he observed several flocks of parakeets.⁸⁸ Other visitors to the area observed teeming bird life over all the territory. Heron, crane, bittern, grebe, water turkey, duck, turkey vulture, limpkin, hawk, osprey, rail, gallinule, coot, dove: veritably ad infinitum, the list grows with scarce mention of songbirds like the thrush and cardinal. Before passing on, mention should be made of the kite, a bird of prey. Zane Grey ably described it as follows:

The mammals which are found in the Everglades proper are very few in number. Deer graze in open spots on the tender grass. An occasional wildcat will make his home on one of the islands in order to prey on rats and mice. Possum and raccoon are found along the borders and sometimes on the islands. Perhaps the mammal best adapted to the glades is the Florida otter, whose trails Willoughby saw by the thousands. Constant hunting for the valuable pelts has reduced this animal to a veritable rarity in his natural habitat.⁹⁰ Other than birds, fish, and reptiles the center of the Everglades is nearly devoid of life. In the tall saw grass, inundated for a large part of the year, the lack of life is not hard to understand.⁹¹

Chapter Notes

51 J. C. Stephens and C. C. Schrontz, "The Principal Characteristics of the Kissimmee-Everglades Watershed," loc. cit., 24.

52 R. V. Allison, "The Soil and Water Conservation Problem in the Everglades," The Soil Science Society of Florida, Proceedings, I (1939), 38.

53 W. E. Safford, "Natural History of Paradise Key and the Nearby Everglades of Florida," Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1917, 377. Hereinafter cited as, "Everglades Natural History."

54 John H. Davis, Jr., "Vegetation of the Everglades and Conservation from the Point of View of the Plant Ecologist," The Soil Science Society of Florida, Proceedings, V-A (1943), 105.

55 John H. Davis, Jr., "Vegetation of the Everglades and Conservation from the Point of View of the Plant Ecologist," loc. cit., 105-112.

56 Charles T. Simpson, In Lower Florida Wilds, 121.

57 Charles T. Simpson, In Lower Florida Wilds, 121; R.V. Allison, "The Soil and Water Conservation Problem in the Everglades," loc. cit., 51.

58 Angelo Heilprin, Okeechobee Wilderness, 45.

59 Hugh L. Willoughby, Across the Everglades, 40.

60 Charles T. Simpson, In Lower Florida Wilds, 124-126.

61 Ibid., 125.

62 W. S. Blatchley, In Days Agone, Notes on Fauna and Flora of Sub-Tropical Florida in the Days when Most of its Area Was a Primeval Wilderness, 102. Hereinafter cited as In Days Agone.

63 Charles T. Simpson, Out of Doors in Florida, 233.

64 W. S. Blatchley, In Days Agone, 101.

65 John C. Gifford, The Reclamation of the Everglades with Trees, 22.

66 W. E. Safford, "Everglades Natural History," loc. cit., 383.

67 W. E. Safford, "Everglades Natural History," loc. cit., 385-386.

68 Charles T. Simpson, Out of Doors in Florida, 241.

69 W. E. Safford, "Everglades Natural History," loc. cit., 390.

70 Charles T. Simpson, Out of Doors in Florida, 241.

71 W. E. Safford, "Everglades Natural History," loc. cit., 391; Charles T. Simpson, Out of Doors in Florida, 243.

72 W. E. Safford, "Everglades Natural History," loc. cit., 408.

73 Charles T. Simpson, In Lower Florida Wilds, 107.

74 Zane Grey, Tales of Southern Rivers, 67.

75 W. E. Safford, "Everglades Natural History," loc. cit., 409.

76 Charles T. Simpson, Out of Doors in Florida, 242.

77 W. E. Safford, "Everlades Natural History," loc. cit., 410.

78 John C. Gifford, The Tropical Subsistence Homestead, 61.

79 Charles T. Simpson, In Lower Florida Wilds, 128.

80 Hugh L. Willoughby, Across the Everglades, 119.

81 W. R. Moses, (MSS), "The Everglades Exploring Expedition," 27. Typescript copy in Albertson Library, Orlando, Florida.

82 W. E. Safford, "Everglades Natural History," loc. cit., 411.

83 Ibid., 415.

84 Zane Grey, Tales of Southern Rivers, 75-76.

85 W. E. Safford, "Everglades Natural History," loc. cit., 416-418.

86 Ibid., 419.

87 Frederick A. Ober, The Knockabout Club in the Everglades; The Adventure of the Club in Exploring Lake Okeechobee, 148; Charles T. Simpson, In Lower Florida Wilds; Angelo Heilprin, Okeechobee Wilderness, 35.

88 Angelo Heilprin, Okeechobee Wilderness, 46.

89 Zane Grey, Tales of Southern Rivers, 66-67.

90 Charles T. Simpson, In Lower Florida Wilds, 128; W. E. Safford, "Everglades Natural History," loc. cit., 423-424.

91 Hugh Willoughby, Across the Everglades, 160; W. R. Moses, "The Everglades Exploring Expedition," 27-30.