Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides), Grossman Hammock, Florida Everglades, FL, USA
Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides), Grossman Hammock, Florida Everglades, FL, USA.  It is not moss but a bromeliad.  Each small plantlet sprouts from the previous plantlet on the moss strand.  These long strings of plantlets appeared as moss, hence the name 'moss' was given.  Because the first plant on the strand is the oldest and each plantlet thereafter is younger, the strand becomes a chronology of the plant's life and conditions the plant grows in.  Using stable isotopes of carbon, we can determine the atmospheric isotopic composition of carbon over a period of time at the site where the Spanish moss grows.
Tillandsia fasciculata growing on trees in Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, FL, USA. 
wild coffee (Psychotria nervosa), John Pennekamp State Park, Florida Keys, FL, USA. 2006.


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orchid sp., John Pennekamp State Park, Florida Keys, FL, USA. 2006.

Plants

 

Dioscorea bulbifera, Indian Hammock Park, Miami, FL, USA, 2007.

 

Hybiscus tilliasis

 

 

Indian Hammock Park, Miami, FL, USA.

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Mangrove propagule (Rhizophora mangle), Matheson Hammock, Miami, FL, USA

 
Australian pines (Casuarina equisetifolia), Matheson Hammock, Miami, FL, USA.  This is an exotic plant in Florida that has caused a lot of damage to natural ecosystems.  Fortunately it does not spread like other exotics.