Coquina Trail Loop Preview

Butterfly Identification Sign

See how many butterflies you can spot!

Butterfly Garden

Our outdoor butterfly garden contains native host plants for our native pollinators including bees, butterflies, and other insects. This garden is maintained in partnership by Enchanted Forest Staff, volunteers, and the Sea Rocket Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society.

Addison/Ellis Canal Marker

The Addison/Ellis Canal was built to drain the marsh near the St. Johns River in order to expand grazing for cattle. When they got here they encountered the portion of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge that runs through this area. The sandy soil and coquina rock continuously broke the machinery that they were using to dig, and eventually the project ran out of money. What remains is an interesting look at the sediment layers and elevation changes we don't normally get to see.

Sand Pine vs Slash Pine

The Sand Pine is Identifiable by it's finger length needles and small pine cones, it also has a tapered crown and a full base. In comparison, the Slash Pine has roughly foot length needles and larger pine cones. The Slash Pine also has branches reminiscent of rungs on a ladder climing upwards toward the crown of the tree.

Scrub Ridge

There is very little Scrub Habitat left in this area of Florida due in large part to development. Many native plants and animals have become threatened or endangered due to scrub habitat reduction, including the Gopher Tortoise, Florida Scrub-Jay, and Dicerandra Mint.

Canal Overlook

Compare the change in elevation between here and the historical canal marker. This is the highest natural point in this area of Florida. You are standing on what is essentally an ancient sand dune. The pieces of shell in the sandy soil were compressed over thousands of years and eventually fused into the coquina rocks you see in the soil.

Tillandsia Cages

These air plants which are a type of bromiliad (tillandsia utriculata), are an endangered plant. These bromilliads like to grow on high up branches/vines in order to be able to collect the nutrients they need by catching rainwater as well as access to the sun. There used to be thousands of this particular species throughout the forest but their numbers have dwindled down to the hundreds. This is due to an invasive species of burrowing weevil that lays its eggs inside the plant. Once the eggs hatch the growing weevils eat their way out of the plant and kill it. This presents a problem since it takes roughly 20 years for these plants to reach maturity. It takes that long for them to grow large enough to reseed, immediately after which they die. These cages are part of a project to protect the bromiliads once they get large enough to be in danger from the weevil eggs. You may be able to spot smaller ones in the canopy on your way through the Mesic Hammock.

Prickly Pear Cactus

Prickly Pear Cactus produces fruit eaten by primarily by deer, wild hogs, raccoons, possums, and gopher tortoises.

Poison Ivy/Virginia Creeper Comparison

Poison ivy have 3 diamond shaped leaves on each stem, the leaves often have a smooth edge (also known as a leaf margin), while Virginia creeper have 5 leaves on each stem and mostly serrated leaf edge or 'margin'. Can you spot the difference on the trail?

Wild Coffee

Pioneer families in the 1800s did try to make coffee out of the native variety but found it much too bitter to drink! Orb weaver spiders will sometimes lay their eggs inside the leaves of this plant and use their webbing to cocoon the eggs with the leaf!

Canal Bridge

Look up into the canopy to see the sweeping live oaks, whose branches are covered with resurrection fern. This kind of fern curls, turns brown, and looks almost dead in the absence of a rainfall. When it rains the leaves unfurl and they turn lush and green again.

Mesic Hammock Vs. Hydric Hammock

The terms Mesic and Hydric refer to the level of moisture in the soil and canopy density of the Hammock habitat. Mesic is moist whereas Hydric is wet.

Coquina Rocks

Look and feel the individual shell pieces in the coquina rocks. Be sure to leave everything where you found it. Remember, everything in the sanctuary is protected.

Cherokee/Coral Bean

Identifiable by its distinctive leaves and long blooms, Cherokee Bean also known as Coral Bean is a favorite nectar station for the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Evidence of Prescribed Burn

If you compare the habitat in between the two sides of the Ridge Trail to the habitat outside of the Ridge Trail loop, you can see the difference in plant hight and density. The Scrub habitat you are currently looking at relies on a fire cycle to prevent trees from getting too tall and blocking the sun from smaller ground plants, and also provides nutrient recharge when the ash mixes back in with the sandy soil.Historically, this fire cycle would happen naturally through wildfires started by lightening strikes. If an area had enough plant matter build up (dead/decaying/overgrown plants) the area would burn. The plants adapted to rely on the fire not only for the access to sun, and nutrient rechage, but in many cases to also spread their seeds for new growth. Once more people moved into the area, fire suppression was thought to be the best way to keep people and property safe. However, the consequences of doing so led to a massive increase in fuel buildup which made wildfires more intense and harder to suppress. Not to mention the decline in plant and wildlife diversity, and the alteration of the habitat itself. More recently, the management technique of Prescribed Burning has enabled wildland firefighters to improve the health of the habitat as well as the safety of the surrounding human population. By conducting Prescribed Burns, wildland firefighters simulate the natural fire cycle to stimulate healthy Scrub habitat and reduce the fuel buildup. Thereby drastically decreasing the risk of naturally occuring wildfires.

Gopher Tortoise Burrow

Look for the "apron" or front porch of the burrow, a clear area of sandy soil that marks the entrance to the Gopher Tortoise Burrow. Adult Gopher Tortoises can build burrows the length of two school busses, that's approximately 90 feet! Female gopher tortoises tend to lay their eggs in the soft turned up sand of the apron which is why it's important to keep your distance from the entrance of the burrow.

Resurrection Fern

This fern is also an air plant and gets its nutrients from the air and the water it collects from the surfaces it grows on. If it goes a while without water, the Resurrection Fern will curl up and turn brown until a good rainfall makes the leaflets turn lush and green again.

Canal Overlook

Hercules Club/Toothache Tree

The Hercules Club can be identified by the knobby thorns on it's trunk. Chewing on the leaves or bark causes numbness in the mouth. This method was used by native peoples to ease tooth or gum pain.

Animal Prints in Sidewalk

The tracks in the sidewalk were made by molds taken from actual animal prints.

Spanish Moss

Spanish Moss is actually not a moss at all, it's a type of bromeliad! Bromeliads are a type of air plant that get their nutriants from the air and rain. This plant is home to insects including red bugs (also known as berry bugs, or chiggers). Bats also like to roost upside down in the larger insulating clumps of Spanish Moss.

Beauty Berry

American Beauty Berry. The berries were used to make dye and the leaves were crushed and put on skin to ward off mosquitos by native peoples. Pioneer families in the 1800s also used the leaves for toilet paper! Remember to leave the plants in tact, all plants and animals in the sanctuary are proctected.

Coontie Palm

Also known as Florida Arrowroot or Wild Sago. The roots of this native cycad plant, once turned into a powder, were used by native peoples to make food akin to bread.