Here you can get a good look at the top of a Sabal Palm. Depending on the time of year you will see flower spikes covered with bees or berries that feed the birds. The top is the only part of the tree that grows and it can be harvested as a vegetable. Country Southerners call it Swamp Cabbage but it is known to most people as Hearts of Palm. Of course, when you harvest swamp cabbage it kills the tree and Hearts of Palm is no longer commercially produced in the US. A young Sabal palm spends 10-30 years growing out before it starts growing up after which it grows about six inches per year. A 10 ft tree could be 30-50 years old. Taller trees have been estimated to be 200 years old or more. Trees for landscaping must be obtained from the wild since they cannot be grown in a nursery.
At the end of the bridge on the left is a Southern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana var. silicicola). It is commonly referred to as a cedar because of the aromatic wood which is resistant to insects and rot and used as fence posts and in chests and cabinets. As the genus name suggests, it is a Juniper, not a Cedar, the difference being that junipers have berry like cones and tightly packed scale-like leaves where cedar leaves are spread out and they have more cone shaped cones. The blue waxy berries are consumed by birds and small mammals. Passage through the gut of the Cedar Waxwing increases the germination rate of the seeds.
Keep going past this end of the bridge and make a left turn on a path just after the Sable Palm growing out of the tire. A few steps along the path and to the left you will see a cement pad left by some people who used to live here. Look for small trees with fine leaves, thorns and yellow powder-puff flowers. This is the Sweet Acacia (Vachellia farnesiana), another member of the Legume Family, that produces sweet smelling yellow flowers in the winter followed by lumpy seed pods. The flowers are cultivated in Europe for use in perfume.
Stop to smell the flowers, if they are present, then go back to the trail and continue on.
