Taxodium ascendens in the Florida Panhandle
One of three species in the genus, Taxodium ascendens has spiraling sprays of appressed scales and forms extensive groves of dwarfed trees with bottle-shaped trunks in 24 inch deep water.
The trees are covered in both Tillandsia usneoides and the lichen for which aforementioned member of the Bromeliad Family was named, Usnea sp.
Included in this post are images of dissected flowers of Nymphaea odorata, a basal angiosperm with an odd pollination biology consisting of protogynous (female first) flowers temporarily trapping beetles and then becoming male (staminate) on the 2nd and 3rd day, after which the entire flower sinks and the fruit matures below the surface of the water.
