Purple gallinule
Florida's most beautiful waterbird is the purple gallinule, found year-round in fresh water marshes in the Florida peninsula.
Red Mangrove
Red mangroves are the easiest of the mangroves to identify due to their "walking legs" root systems. Note the bean-pod-like “roots” at their bases: these are miniature mangroves spawning, fully formed plants waiting to float off with the next high tide.
Red Maple
Also known as the swamp maple, the red maple is one of the more common large trees found in Florida's floodplain forests. It's by far the most colorful, too, sporting bright crimson leaves in late fall and early winter.
Red-winged blackbird
One of the most distinctive sounds you'll hear in a Florida marsh is the call of the red-winged blackbird, particularly when there are a large flock of them.
Roseate spoonbill
There's no mistaking the roseate spoonbill, with its bright pink plumage and distinctive shovel-shaped beak. Usually seen in pairs or large groups, they feed on mud flats.
Saltwort
The thick succulent leaves of saltwort are commonly seen along coastal fringes and mangrove forests. Used as a medicinal herb and as a tea, saltwort is thought to relieve asthma, constipation, and gout
Sand Cordgrass
It's found throughout Florida, in freshwater marshes and along the rim of saltwater marshes, and is by far one of the showiest grasses in Florida, especially when the huge tufts are ruffled by a breeze - sand cordgrass.
Sand Live Oak
A white oak in the same family as beeches and chestnuts, the sand live oak varies in size the farther north it goes in its range, from 20 feet in South Florida to an average of 50 feet tall.
Sandhill crane
Tall, distinctive birds that you'll see everywhere in the Florida peninsula, sandhill cranes mate for life and travel in pairs or as a family.
Sea Myrtle
Found along the coast and inland waterways, large bushes that burst into blooms of white puffs in fall are sea myrtle (also known as saltbush or groundsel bush), baccharis halimfolia.
Snowy egret
Sometimes mistaken for other white wading birds in Florida, the snowy egret has distinctive yellow feet and a black bill.
Strangler Fig
Slowly suffocating its host by creating a leafy canopy above it and roots that surround it, the strangler fig (Ficus aurea) earns its name. You'll see it throughout tropical habitats in South Florida.