Hardwood Hammock

Hardwood hammocks are found throughout the Everglades wherever land is high enough to prevent regular flooding and fire.  These communities are easily recognized by the tall trees, often Gumbo Limbo Trees, which extend up through the canopy of tree islands in the open prairies.  These hammocks are of special interest to botanists because the majority of the flora found throughout them are of tropical origins.  Most of these plants have made it to southern Florida by migratory birds which deposit seeds or by strong winds commonly found in hurricanes.  These hammocks have very dense canopies with very little underbrush because of the lack of sunlight on the forest floor.  Vines are common throughout a hardwood hammock as they snake their way up the canopy trees trying to get enough light to survive. 

One of the most fascinating tropical trees found in the hammocks copes with the lack of light in a very unique way.  The strangler fig starts as a seed enclosed in a fruit that is eaten by a number of different songbirds.  These birds then deposit the seed at the top of a tree where the seed begins to grow.  It sprouts and extends a thin trunk with a set of leaves.  Slowly it begins to send roots down to the ground from the top of the tree.  As the fig grows it slowly “strangles” the host tree until it has completely overtaken it and the host tree dies leaving only the strangler fig to fill out the canopy.