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Spring in the swamps brings the lizard's tail, known by its smell, white flowers on a spike
that droops at the tip, and spoonflower, with a fleshy stalk, and a white flower resembling a
pointed spoon. The many purple blossoms on the root-like stem of the thalia appear in summer
and fall. Blueflag, a wild iris, with three petals and sword-shaped leaves, blooms in late winter
and spring. Golden Club, its flowering stem covered with small, yellow flowers, blooms in
swamps and shallow water from late winter into summer. Smilax is common through the year,
intertwining prickly stems, and bearing clusters of black, yellow or red berries.


Ferns

Many kinds of ferns grow in Florida's pinelands, prairies, hammocks, marshes, and
swamps. Throughout the State, the resurrection fern forms mats of green on the barks of trees.
This abundant plant shrivels up in dry weather, but regains its color after rainfall. The maiden-
hair fern is fairly extensive, carpeting the floors of lime-sinks and high pineland hammocks. The
halberd fern, with large leaf-blades, grows best in lime-sinks and grottoes. Quillwort, a grass-like
plant, is common along pineland streams, and in wet woods, marshes and hammocks.

Wet, moist grounds also produce the royal fern. When old, this familiar fern turns red or
dark brown. A plant that grows best around the base of trees and in cypress knees is the chain-
fern. Many tropical varieties are found in lower Florida, including the large-leaved fern of
mangrove swamps and salt marshes; the old Boston fern, spreading over the trunks of cabbage
palmettos, and the strap fern, found on the limbs of live oaks.