Coquina Trail Loop

See how many butterflies you can spot! 

Our outdoor butterfly garden contains native host plants for our native pollinators including bees, butterflies, and other insects.   This garden is maintained in partnership by Enchanted Forest Staff, volunteers, and the Sea Rocket Chap... Read more

The Addison/Ellis Canal was built to drain the marsh near the St. Johns River in order to expand grazing for cattle.  When they got here they encountered the portion of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge that runs through this area.  The sandy ... Read more

The Sand Pine is Identifiable by it's finger length needles and small pine cones, it also has a tapered crown and a full base.  In comparison, the Slash Pine has roughly foot length needles and larger pine cones.  The Slash Pine also has... Read more

There is very little Scrub Habitat left in this area of Florida due in large part to development.  Many native plants and animals have become threatened or endangered due to scrub habitat reduction, including the Gopher Tortoise, Florida S... Read more

Compare the change in elevation between here and the historical canal marker.  This is the highest natural point in this area of Florida.  You are standing on what is essentally an ancient sand dune.  The pieces of shell in the sandy soi... Read more

These air plants which are a type of bromiliad (tillandsia utriculata), are an endangered plant.  These bromilliads like to grow on high up branches/vines in order to be able to collect the nutrients they need by catching rainwater as well... Read more

Prickly Pear Cactus produces fruit eaten by primarily by deer, wild hogs, raccoons, possums, and gopher tortoises.  

Poison ivy have 3 diamond shaped leaves on each stem, the leaves often have a smooth edge (also known as a leaf margin), while Virginia creeper have 5 leaves on each stem and mostly serrated leaf edge or 'margin'.  Can you spot the differe... Read more

Pioneer families in the 1800s did try to make coffee out of the native variety but found it much too bitter to drink!   Orb weaver spiders will sometimes lay their eggs inside the leaves of this plant and use their webbing to cocoon the e... Read more

Look up into the canopy to see the sweeping live oaks, whose branches are covered with resurrection fern.  This kind of fern curls, turns brown, and looks almost dead in the absence of a rainfall.  When it rains the leaves unfurl and the... Read more

The terms Mesic and Hydric refer to the level of moisture in the soil and canopy density of the Hammock habitat.  Mesic is moist whereas Hydric is wet.

Look and feel the individual shell pieces in the coquina rocks.  Be sure to leave everything where you found it.  Remember, everything in the sanctuary is protected.

Identifiable by its distinctive leaves and long blooms, Cherokee Bean also known as Coral Bean is a favorite nectar station for the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  

If you compare the habitat in between the two sides of the Ridge Trail to the habitat outside of the Ridge Trail loop, you can see the difference in plant hight and density.  The Scrub habitat you are currently looking at relies on a fire... Read more

Look for the "apron" or front porch of the burrow, a clear area of sandy soil that marks the entrance to the Gopher Tortoise Burrow.  Adult Gopher Tortoises can build burrows the length of two school busses, that's approximately 90 feet! ... Read more

This fern is also an air plant and gets its nutrients from the air and the water it collects from the surfaces it grows on.  If it goes a while without water, the Resurrection Fern will curl up and turn brown until a good rainfall makes th... Read more

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The Hercules Club can be identified by the knobby thorns on it's trunk.  Chewing on the leaves or bark causes numbness in the mouth.  This method was used by native peoples to ease tooth or gum pain.

The tracks in the sidewalk were made by molds taken from actual animal prints.  

Spanish Moss is actually not a moss at all, it's a type of bromeliad!  Bromeliads are a type of air plant that get their nutriants from the air and rain.  This plant is home to insects including red bugs (also known as berry bugs, or chig... Read more

American Beauty Berry.  The berries were used to make dye and the leaves were crushed and put on skin to ward off mosquitos by native peoples.  Pioneer families in the 1800s also used the leaves for toilet paper!  Remember to leave the ... Read more

Also known as Florida Arrowroot or Wild Sago.  The roots of this native cycad plant, once turned into a powder, were used by native peoples to make food akin to bread.