Willows Cattails Sedges Bullrushes Pondweed Waterlilies Eelgrass

The largest freshwater marsh within the panther's range is the Everglades. Sawgrass stretches as far as the eye can see interrupted only be occasional hardwood hammocks. The soils are acidic peat and marshes are typically wet about 250 days per year. Flying over the Everglades, Game Commission biologist Chris Belden looked down to see a panther swimming through sawgrass between hardwood hammocks (Alvarez 1993). Freshwater marshes support flocks of wading birds as well as alligators and fish. During the summer, marshes are important foraging sites for white-tailed deer and wild hogs. Natural light ground fires are started by lightning in the dry season and keep bushes and trees from growing.

Birds: canvasback duck, coot, great egret, limpkin, little blue heron, northern harrier, osprey, rail, red-winged blackbird, sandhill crane, endangered snail kite, white ibis, endangered wood stork, Mammals: Florida water rat, marsh rabbit, white-tailed deer. Reptiles and Amphibians: American alligator, black swamp snake, bluegill, Florida banded water snake, green water snake, killifish, leopard frog, little grass frog, mosquito fish, mud turtle, ornate chorus frog, pig frog, sunfish, tree frog. Invertebrates: apple snail.

arrowhead, bladderwort, bulrushes, buttonbush, cattail, cordgrass, eelgrass, fire flag, maidencane, muhly grass, pickerelweed, pondweed, redroot, sand cordgrass, sawgrass, southern naiad, spatterdock, sphagnum moss, spikerush, St. John's wort, swamp hibiscus, Virginia chain fern, wax myrtle, white-top sedge, white water lily, willows, yellow-eyed grass and yellow lotus.

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