Air Plants

I love the idea of plants that live on the moisture in the air and the dust and minerals in the wind. For whatever reason, the trees in this park are full of air plants (also called epiphytes). I’ve talked about Spanish Moss and Resurrection Ferns

before, but they are still great to see. The ferns were mostly dry, but some were ‘resurrected’ near the tree tops. After a rain, more ferns opened up.

This is a Pineapple Airplant. Frogs, lizards, and birds will drink the water that is trapped in the leaves.

Serpent Ferns and Shoestring Ferns (the droopy ones).

Ball Moss

   
The park has a tower along with a canopy walkway so you can see the plants in the tree tops. Really a nice touch! Much of the plants In this picture is the red tipped air plant called Southern Needleleaf. There’s a story that goes with this. Even though this air plant is everywhere, I couldn’t identify it by the signs on the trail. I asked a volunteer at the visitor center. She had me pick up a sample off the ground (they are EVERYWHERE and this one was on a broken branch) and bring it to the ranger station. The ranger got all upset that I moved this plant. She also couldn’t identify it other than it was an air plant. Luckily, there was a visitor in the ranger station who could identify it and talk about the blooms that will be opening soon. Afterwards, I returned the broken branch and plant to the ground in same area so the ranger wouldn’t yell at me again.

The signs say there were 8 different types of air plants in the area. I saw seven. I guess I just needed to look harder for the last one! Instead I’ll include this pink lichen. It’s not an airplant, but it’s different.

 While I was checking out the air plants during a morning walk, I heard crashing and grunts in the trees. Two feral hogs ran across the path. No pictures, they move fast!