[Illustration: Bayhead]
ALLIGATOR FLAG
COCOPLUM
SWAMP HOLLY
CABBAGE PALMETTO
REDBAY
SWEETBAY
SAWGRASS
WILLOW
ORCHIDS AND BROMELIADS
Many of the tree islands in the fresh-water glades are of the type
called bayhead. Growing in depressions in the limestone or from beds of
peat built up on the bedrock, these plant communities contain a variety
of trees, including swamp holly, redbay, sweetbay, wax myrtle, and
cocoplum. Some of them, on the fringes of the brackish zone, are marked
by clumps of graceful paurotis palms growing at their edges.
Like the hardwood hammocks in the pinelands, bayheads are prevented from
taking over the entire glades ecosystem by the dry-season fires that
sweep the region at irregular intervals. The fires do not always affect
the bayheads. A moat, formed by the dissolving action of acids from
decaying plant materials on the limestone, may surround the tree island,
providing some protection from fire. Wildlife concentrates in these
moats during the dry season. Birds congregate here to harvest the fish,
snails, and other aquatic life—and occasionally themselves fall prey to
lurking alligators.