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Comprehensive Plan Conservation Element <br />FIGURE 8.17 <br />TROPICAL / COASTAL HAMMOCKS <br />(GENERALIZED LOCATION) <br />fI---------- •--------•-------------•— ---- <br />H Y <br />l7 <br />✓ Date: 1988 <br />---I <br />SCALE 0 1 2 3 4 Mlles I , <br />-------------------- <br />Source: Indian River County Planning Division ' <br />based on S.C.S. general soil map units <br />Mature coastal hammocks within the county are dominated by large live oaks. While laurel oaks <br />(Quercus laurifolia) and scrub oaks (Quercus chapmand) are rare, these species are abundant west of <br />the IRL. This may be due to the recent development of coastal hammocks and the relatively <br />immature alkaline soils. In many hammocks, cabbage palms are codominant, while important canopy <br />or understory plants include paradise tree, gumbo limbo, wild lime, Hercules club, wild mastic, <br />myrsine, white stopper, Spanish stopper, twinberry, shore bay, though buckthorn, shining sumac, <br />wild coffee, snowberry, poison ivy, greenbrier, wild grape, gopher apple, tread softly, ferns, and <br />various grasses. Green pine, cypress rose pine, ball moss, golden polypod, shoestring fern, <br />resurrection fern, and wild orchids are often found within the live oak -cabbage palm canopy. Within <br />or adjacent to these hammocks, Brazilian pepper and Australian pine are commonly encountered, <br />with Brazilian pepper often totally displacing the native understory. <br />Many mammals and other non -wetland dependent animals of the barrier island are inhabitants of the <br />coastal hammock community. Its vegetative diversity, food resources, and escape cover provide <br />suitable habitat for raccoons, opossums, nine -banded armadillos, hispid cotton rats, least shrews, <br />eastern moles, red -shouldered hawks, warblers, vireos, woodpeckers, southern toads, tree frogs, <br />Community Development Department Indian River County 50 <br />