Pond/lake

This location point is off the trail as well, but it is a beautiful view. The pond is filled with water lilies and it can be another rest area to cool down. There's plenty of shade here to enjoy the view.

What are white water-lily?

White water lilies are wetland plants commonly found in quiet waters of marshes and slow-moving streams, as well as along the shallow edges of lakes and ponds. Its circular floating leaves are green on top and purple on the underside. The white water lily is an aquatic wildflower that produces beautiful white flowers in early summer.

View the pictures for this pin location as you can tell this aquatic plant can form dense colonies covering the surface of the water. These aquatic plants can grow in water depths up to about five or six feet.

These plants are of significant value to wetland wildlife species, both directly as a food source and indirectly as an important part of wetlands ecology. The abundant pollen of the flowers attracts a wide variety of insects, including bees, flies, and beetles. It also provides a resting platform for dragonflies and other insects. The seeds of white lilies provide a food source for several bird species. Mammals, too, feed on these plants for example the white-tailed Deer (the ones we saw in location point # 2).

I hope that this virtual trail of CREW lands help you gain more knowledge of the ecosystem in Southwest Florida. The orange trail is about 2.9 miles but because we went off-trail a couple of times it probably was more than 3 miles.

Thank you!

Source:
https://wildadirondacks.org/adirondack-wildflowers-white-water-lily-nymphaea-odorata.html#habitat