ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY


 NO. 17 CYPRESS SWAMP


OCCURRENCE

The Cypress Swamp ecological community occurs along rivers, lake margins,
slough and strands, or interspersed throughout other communities such as
flatwoods and slough. It occurs throughout Florida, but is the predominant
swamp type in the area from Flagler County south through Polk County and in
southwest Florida. The "Big Cypress" area of Monroe and Collier Counties is
included in Ecological Community No. 16 Scrub Cypress.

DESCRIPTION

This community is poorly drained and water is at or above ground level a good
portion of the year. Bald cypress is the dominant tree and is often the only
plant which occurs in significant numbers. Cypress swamps growing on sand,
rock and shallow mucky pond areas are not as productive as those found on
alluvial floodplain soils. As the soil depth in muck ponds increases, so does
the growth rate of cypress. The submerged or saturated condition of the soil
and general absence of fire help reduce competition and keep the community
from a successional change to a swamp hardwood (Bayhead) community.

I. Soils

 Soils commonly associated with this community are nearly level or
 depressional, poorly drained and have loamy subsoils and sandy surfaces.
 Representative soils include: Martel, Monteocha, and Surrency. Appendix
 A contains information on correlation of soil series with the appropriate
 ecological community.

 2. Vegetation

 Bald cypress, along lakes and stream margins, is dominant and often is the
 only plant found in large numbers. Pond cypress occurs in cypress heads
 or domes which are usually found in flatwoods and prairies. The diversity
 of trees is low in the cypress heads but increases in the strands and
 stream margins. Plants which characterize this community are.

 TREES Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum; Blackgum, Nyss6 sylvatica;
 Coastal Plain willow, Salix caroliniana; Pond cypress, Taxodium
 distichum var. nutans; Red maple, Acer rubrum

 SHRUBS Common buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis, Southern
 waxmyrtle, Myrica cerifera

 HERBACEOUS PLANTS AND VINES Cinnamon fern, Osmunda cinnamomea; Fall-
 flowering ixia, Nemastylis floridana; Laurel greenbriar, Smilax
 laurifolia; Pickerel weed, Pontederia cordata; Royal fern,
 Osmunda regalis; Spanish moss, Tillandsia usneoides; Stiff-
 leafed wild pine, Tillandsic utriculata; Sphagnur moss,
 Sphagnur. spp.