Green Buttonwood, Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus)

Green Buttonwood, Buttonwood
Conocarpus erectus

Wild Iguana (Iguana iguana) basking on Buttonwood trunk, Crandon Park, Biscayne Bay, Miami, FL, USA.

Hi,

This is a really neat photo - thanks for posting it! It's great to see plants in their native environment...and an iguana to boot! :-)

Thanks,
Shannon

Thanks! This photo was taken in the southern tip of Florida in the United States, where iguanas have run wild in many areas and have bred. I was surprised that no one replied to my photo for such a long time. It really made me worried... I thought people would like it. It's a really neat photo. The trunk of the tree it is sitting on is the Buttonwood. Buttonwood grows in coastal parts of central and southern Florida.

The iguana in the photo is around 6 feet long and is a mature adult. The photo was taken in Miami in far southeastern Florida in a park on Key Biscayne called Crandon Park. There are hundreds of iguanas there! I saw probably 30 or more iguanas there in the ONE DAY I took this photograph. Many were large and spiny and around 3 to 4 or even 5 feet long. Quite a few individuals that were adults approached 6 feet. I saw a lot of them basking or swimming to an island in a pond. On that one small island, there were almost 10 or more iguanas!

NativePlantFan9

I just saw your photo when I was going through some DG Newsletters I'd missed, so maybe there are some others out there who've missed it too, and will post when they do see it. I agree, it is a very neat photo.

6 feet long you say - !!!! Wow. I can't even picture it. From the photo, I figured maybe 2. It's amazing, the variety on even our continent, let alone the world. I feel so lucky to be able to see personal pictures like yours, of environments completely different from mine. And you paint a good word picture too - I feel like I've visited the park myself.

Thanks again!
Shannon

To spklatt,
Thanks! You are so correct - every continent has their variety of nature, and our's is no exception. And I agree... it is very interesting to see photos of areas vastly different in climate, habitat, temperature and ecology than our's. I've always wanted to go to Sweden or somewhere where I'll see snow - you never have it here in south Florida.

NativePlantFan9

Have you ever been to Florida or anywhere where it is warm?

Well, the humidex gets above 104 here in the summer, does that count? lolol It's really quite unbearable - the A/C is going almost constantly. Expensive, but worth it.

I did spend a week in the Augusta, Georgia area a few years ago, for work - I think it was in November. The temp during the evening was around 60; for me it was comfortable, but everyone around me had jackets on. :-)

I went to Finland a few years ago, in October - saw a flock of real, live wild reindeer running across the road. It was so neat! They had some snow in the far northern reaches of the country at that time.

Of course, snow is different in different places. In western Canada where there's less humidity, the snow is usually more powdery, and you can often just sweep it off your sidewalk with a good push broom. Here in the east, the snow is heavy, wet, slushy on the roads. Plus there's a lot of freezing rain here, which is no picnic at all. Only two more months & it'll be gone....

If you're at all interested in seeing some snow pics, there's a good thread going in the Canadian Trading forum. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/478298/#new. Have you ever seen the real stuff?

Shannon

Yes, I have, when I was in Sweden.

It was so neat! I was there for 2 weeks, by the way.

NativePlantFan9

Thanks for the information!