mes described as "tree islands." They are small areas found on ground that's slightly higher than the surrounding landscape. They typically have rich organic soil and rarely flood or burn. Vegetation is thick and includes thickets of saw palmetto. White-tailed deer are often abundant in hardwood hammocks. In the fall and winter wild hogs feed in hammocks on acorns and saw palmetto berries. Pinelands, in particular pine flatwoods, are the most common natural community throughout Florida and generally occur on flat plateaus with sandy soil. Within the panther's range are found pine flatwoods as well as the much less common rockland pine, areas of thin soil on top of ridges of limestone. The Long Pine Key area of Everglades National Park is an example of rockland pine. It is an island surrounded by freshwater marsh. Panthers are known to use the long Pine Key area. Pinelands are usually moist during the rainy season and are sometimes even flooded. Periodic fires are necessary to prevent their transformation to hardwood forests. After fires, new plant growth is particularly attractive to white-tailed deer. Wild hogs may also be present in pinelands. Vegetation density in pinelands varies from nearly closed to open and almost savanna-like. Cypress swamps consist of two types of cypress, towering bald cypress and shorter pond cypress. Because their seeds can't germinate under water, Cypress’ require land that is dry for part of the year. Cypress Swamps occur on slightly elevated land in places where lower land is freshwater marshes as well as on slightly lower land in pinelands. They are typically wet for 200-300 days each year. Within the panther's range are cypress domes, dwarf cypress forests, and cypress strands (long narrow features). Before it was logged in the 1940's, Fakahatchee Strand was a cypress forest with huge, centuries-old trees. Today the strand is a dense, mixed hardwood forest. Understory plants are ...
