ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY


 NO. 6 SOUTH FLORIDA FLATWOODS


OCCURRENCE

The South Florida Flatwoods ecological community occurs throughout south and
central Florida. The northern limit of its occurrence is approximately on a
line from Levy County on the west to St. Johns County on the east. This
community covers more land area than any other in south Florida. Individual
communities may comprise several thousand acres and are typically interspersed
with smaller communities of other types, especially wetlands.

DESCRIPTIONS

This community occurs on nearly level land. Water movement is very gradual to
the natural drainageways, swamps, marshes, and ponds associated with this
community. During the rainy season, usually June through September, this
community may have water on or near the soil surface. It is easily identified
by the flat topography and pine and palmetto vegetation.

1. Soil

 The soils are nearly level, deep, acid, poorly to somewhat poorly drained,
 and coarse textured throughout or coarse textured in the upper part and
 moderately coarse textured or moderately fine textured in the lower part.
 Representative soils included: Braden, Eaton, Electra, Elred, Heights,
 Immokalee, Lawnwood, Myakka, Nettles, Palmetto, Pomona, Smyrna and
 Waveland. Appendix A contains information on correlation of soil series
 with the appropriate ecological community.

2. Vegetation

 The landscape position of this community affects plant-water
 relationships and causes slight differences in plant composition from
 wetter to drier areas. Although these differences are recognized, they
 are not significant enough to delineate as separate communities, the
 natural vegetation of this community is typically scattered pine trees
 with an understory of sawpalmetto and grasses. Some areas in extreme
 south Florida have few, if any, trees. These areas are often called
 prairies or dry prairies. The largest of these areas occur north and west
 of Lake Okeechobee. Plants which characterize this community are:

 TREES Live oak, Quercus virginiana; Slash pine, Pinus elliottii;
 South Florida slash pine, Pinus elliottii var. densa

 SHRUBS Dwarf huckleberry, Gaylussacia dumosa; Gallberry, Iex glabra;
 Sawpalmetto, Serenoa repens; Tarflower, Befaria racemosa;
 Shining sumac, Rhus copallina; Waxmyrtle, Myrica cerifera