Rockland Hammock
Rockland hammocks form on regions of rockland where a lack of fire has allowed hardwood trees to become dominant, nearly all of which are tropical in origin. Natural firebreaks include exposed limestone cliffs and solution sinkholes. Canopy species include gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba), paradise tree (Simarouba glauca), pigeonplum (Coccoloba diversifolia), Florida strangler fig (Ficus aurea), false mastic (Sideroxylon foetidissimum), willow bustic (Dipholis salicifolia), short-leaf fig (Ficus citrifolia), false tamarind (Lysiloma latisiliquum), West Indian mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni), and pepperleaf sweetwood (Licaria triandra). Epiphytes that grow in the canopy include Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) and mall moss (Tillandsia recurvata). Plants such as black ironwood (Krugiodendron ferreum), inkwood (Exothea paniculata), lancewood (Nectandra coriacea), marlberry (Ardisia escallonoides), poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum), satinleaf (Chrysophyllum oliviforme), white stopper (Eugenia axillaris), shiny oysterwood (Gymnanthes lucida), and pale lidflower (Calyptranthes pallens) grow in the understory. Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana), a temperate species, can be found on hammock margins.
Read more about this topic: South Florida Rocklands
Famous quotes containing the word hammock:
“We follow where the Swamp Fox guides,
His friends and merry men are we;
And when the troop of Tarleton rides,
We burrow in the cypress tree.
The turfy hammock is our bed,
Our home is in the red deer’s den,
Our roof, the tree-top overhead,
For we are wild and hunted men.”
—William Gilmore Simms (1806–1872)