ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY


 NO. 26 SLOUGH


OCCURRENCE

The Slough ecological community occurs throughout central and south Florida,
but especially in the latter. Individual communities vary widely in size.
Most serve as drainageways for water during periods of heavy and prolonged
rainfall. This community occurs mostly within the south Florida flatwoods
ecological community.

DESCRIPTION

This community appears as an open expanse of grasses, sedges, and rushes in an
areas where the soil is saturated during the rainy season. Most sloughs are
relatively long and narrow and slightly lower in elevation than the
surrounding flatwoods or hammocks.

1. Soils

 Soils commonly associated with this community are nearly level and poorly
 drained with coarse textured surfaces underlain by clay or sand.
 Representative soils are: Anclote, Arzell, Basinger, Charlotte, Placid,
 and Pople. Appendix A contains information on correlation of soil series
 with the appropriate ecological community.

2. Vegetation

 Grasses are the most common plants found in sloughs. Sedges and rushes
 also occur, with scattered shrubs in some locations. Plants that
 characterize this community are:

 SHRUBS St. Peters wort, Ascyrum stans

 HERBACEOUS Pickerel weed, Pontederia cordata; Sundew, Drosera spp.;
 Marsh pink, Sabatia spp.; Meadowbeauty, Rhexia spp.; Milkwort,
 Polygala spp.; Yellow-eyed grass, Xyris spp.

 GRASSES AND GRASSLIKE PLANTS Beak rushes, Rhvnchospora spp; Blue maidencane,
 Amphicarpum muhlenbergianum; Bluejoint panicum, Panicum
 tenerum; Bottlebrush threeawn, Aristida spiciformis; Panicum,
 Dichanthelium dichotomum; Low panicum, Panicum spp.; Sand
 cordgrass, Spartina bakeri; Sloughgrass, Scleria spp.; Soft
 rush, Juncus effusus

 Information about plants which occur in specific ecological communities is
 in Appendix B.

3. Animals

 Sloughs are host to a diverse wildlife population. Many larger animals
 occur where sloughs join flatwoods and hammocks. Typical animals of the
 sloughs are: