Willow Head
Willows pioneer new territories and create an [environment] that enables other plants to gain a foothold. Their windblown seeds usually root in sunny land opened by fire and agriculture. Since these trees require a great quantity of water, the solution holes in the glades are favorable sites. Seedlings grow, leaves fall, and stems and twigs die and drop—contributing to the formation of [peat]. When this builds up close to or above the surface of the water, it provides a [habitat] for other trees such as sweet bay and cocoplum; with enough of these the willow head changes character and becomes a bayhead.
Years ago, when alligators were plentiful, they weeded the willow-bordered solution holes, keeping them open. Consequently, the willow heads were typically donut-shaped. Today, however, alligators are scarce and many of the willow heads have no ’gators. The solution holes fill with muck and [peat]; relatively tall willows rise out of the deep, peat-filled centers, with increasingly smaller ones toward the less fertile edges, and the willow heads take on the characteristic dome-shaped profile but not nearly the height of the cypress domes. They have a clumpy, brushy appearance, seeming to grow right out of the [marsh] without trunks.
POMACEA SNAIL—The sole food of the [everglade] kite
[EVERGLADE] KITE
Willow heads with alligator holes typically have a doughnut shape—the gator hole representing the hole in the doughnut.
SPATTERDOCK COASTAL PLAIN WILLOW CATTAIL DRY SEASON WATER LEVEL