Come down this short trail that leads to a gazebo overlooking a small salt marsh fed by a tributary of Alligator Creek. In South Florida, salt marshes populated with Black Needlerush (Juncus romariansis) occur landward (and at a few inches higher elevation) of Mangrove Swamps, where there is less tidal flushing and more fresh water input. These are areas of extreme fluctuations in salinity and temperature which few organisms can tolerate long term. Black Needlerush is one of those that can tolerate it. We saw the tall needle-sharp leaves earlier mixed in with the sedges, but in the salt marsh Needlerush takes over simply because nothing else can stand the conditions.
Marshes (predominated by non-woody/herbacious vegetation) and swamps (where woody plants/trees predominate) process organic material received through runoff from the surrounding area. This area can be as small as the area around a small depression marsh or as large as a major watershed. Worms, fungi, bacteria, insects, plants and animals all contribute to organic matter processing which cleanses the water and recycles nutrients that fuel the estuarine and ocean food webs. This abundance of nutrients and shelter attracts many marine and terrestrial organisms, including commercially important fish and shellfish, that temporarily take advantage of the abundant nutrients and shelter during some part of their life cycles.
You can see that it does not take much elevation to create conditions where The Needlerush abruptly ends and more terestrial plants take over. There's a Slash Pine and some Swamp Fern. To your left, you will find a Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus), a plant associated with the transition zone between saltmarshes, Mangroves and higher ground. Sometimes Buttonwood is included as a Mangrove species. It prefers fresher water but is able to excrete salt through glands in the leaf stem. The spherical flowers are often, but not always, on separate male or female plants and the fruit is cone-like and breaks up into several seeds. During the early 1900s buttonwood was used to make a high-grade charcoal.
Notice the large, well used animal trail leading into the saltmarsh. We have found raccoons using it. Smaller animals, such as opossums, armadillos, rats and rabbits use smaller trails on both sides of the large trail. The pictures show a Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) and a female Raccoon (Procyon lotor). Look carefully and you will see her two young back in the rushes waiting for her all clear.
