Dry
Prairie
"Dry prairie" does not describe a permanent
condition: portions of "dry prairies" may be wet following heavy
rains. Typically they are grassy meadows with a few scattered saw
palmetto, wiregrass, and an occasional stunted slash pine.
Freshwater Marsh
and Wet Prairies
Marshes are treeless areas that retain water
throughout most of the year. Characteristic plants are sawgrass,
pickerel weed, fire flag, maidencane, buttonbush, smartweed, and
spike rush. Wet prairies are seasonally flooded transitional areas
between freshwater marshes and pine flatwoods and are dominated by
slough grass, broomsedge, and beak rush.
Pine
Flatwoods
Open stands of south Florida slash pine with an
understory of saw palmetto, wiregrass, broomsedge, staggerbush,
dwarf wax myrtle, gallberry, slough grass, Florida beggar weed,
partridge pea, milk pea, queen's delight, and runner oak. Of the
three flatwoods types found in Florida, slash pine flatwoods have
the highest species diversity. Like other flatwoods, they depend on
fire to reduce competition from hardwoods as well as to maintain
species diversity.
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