Illustration 1

Then there is the enduring cypress. There are many cypresses in the world, but the Everglades region has two: the short, often dwarf pond cypress and the tall fresh-water river cypress. It is the river cypress that is tall, to 125 feet, silver gray, columnar, almost pyramidical on its broad fluted base, whose curiously short branches lose their leaves in winter and stand ghostly and gaunt among the Spanish moss and red tongued air plants. Spring draws out from the ancient wood the tiny scratched lines of its thready leaves, the palest yellow-green darkening to emerald. It is a fine timber tree. White and green, over brown water, against an amazing blue and whit sky, it is most strangely beautiful. ( p.36, Marjory Stoneman Douglas.)