Woke up in the Everglades and got right to it bright and early with a bike ride down Shark Valley to the lookout at the very end! Saw so much wildlife and learned a lot about the birds and the plants. I saw a total of 36 gators/crocs during my visit, most of which were in Shark Valley. It was a fun loop with great weather to boot. After that, I drove to the south side of the park for some hiking. I got a little bit of everything in the Everglades! Big lizards, small lizards, big birds, small birds, big palms, small spadderdocks!
My plant of focus is the Royal Palm (Roystonea regia). We love a good palm tree, and these feel almost iconic for a tropical feeling, like Florida! They are native to Florida and can grow up to 80ft tall. They are used ornamentally, for timber, and even for medicine. Birds and bats enjoy their fruits. There has been some back-and-forth on its taxonomy, with two operant species eventually being ruled to be the same. The tree reproduces via unisex flowers that are pollinated mostly by bees and bats. This tree is one of the first recorded monocots with root nodules. These root nodules show signs of nitrogen fixation, which is commonly found in legumes. Much cooler trees than I thought!
The Fools Journeys 
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