Luxuriant Blades of Never Wet

From naturalist Francis Harper’s journal during his first visit to the Okefenokee Swamp; May 1912.

“The run passed between lines of cypresses from which hung long festoons of Spanish moss, gently swaying in the breeze and half concealing the trunks of trees. Vistas were disclosed glade after glade, fringed on all sides by slender files of the cypress. The beauty was exquisite, almost supernatural. Every part of the opening, save the run, was occupied by the far-spreading sphagnum in which Dave pointed out many winding trails of otter and alligator. The luxuriant blades of “never wet” (Orontium aquaticum) in the water almost shut out a view of the surface, and they rustled and scraped along the sides of the boat as Dave’s vigorous poling drove it onward.”