This is a series of caches focused on the Ecological Communities of Rainbow Springs State Park. This cache is located in the middle of a mesic Flatwoods.
Description: Mesic flatwoods is characterized by an open canopy of tall pines and a dense, low ground layer of low shrubs, grasses, and forbs. Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) is the principal canopy tree in northern and Central Florida, and South Florida slash pine (P. elliottii var. densa) forms the canopy south of Lake Okeechobee. Although slash pine (Pinus elliottii) is currently more common than longleaf pine in mesic flatwoods in northern Florida, this a result of invasion by, or planting of, slash pine after logging of longleaf pine followed by a long period of fire exclusion in the early part of the twentieth century (Garren 1943). Early accounts mention slash pine only in wet flatwoods sites (Clewell 1986). Characteristic shrubs include saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), gallberry (Ilex glabra), coastalplain staggerbush (Lyonia fruticosa), and fetterbush (Lyonia lucida).
Mesic flatwoods is the most widespread natural community in Florida, covering the flat sandy terraces left behind by former high stands of sea level during the Plio-Pleistocene. Soils are acidic, nutrient-poor fine sands with upper layers darkened by organic matter. Leon, Vero, and Smyrna fine sands are common examples (Gilbert et al. 1995). Drainage in this flat terrain can be impeded by a loosely cemented organic layer (spodic horizon) formed within several feet of the soil surface. The soils are alternately droughty during dry periods and saturated, or even inundated, after heavy rains.
Source: Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) Ecological Communities Guide