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I'm Jim Welch with naturalist Rudy Mancke and we're at the congaree swamp national monument 20 miles southeast of columbia, south carolina-- 15,000 acres protected by an act of congress in 1976 and protected, I guess, Rudy because of some of the record trees that are in the swamplands here.

This is really a spectacular place because of the great diversity of hardwoods here, Jim that do well, that get to be very large.

I like to think of this place as the land of giants, giant trees.

Really, this, in a sense, is the redwoods of the east so to speak.

It's also a natural laboratory that's a lot of fun to really come to and visit and see what nature can do with trees when you leave her alone.

We're really going to be looking at a floodplain.

It's called Congaree Swamp National Monument.

We'll see some wet, swampy areas but most of this is really a floodplain forest and I suppose we'll have to talk a little about what a floodplain forest is.

And we're really starting out on a part that's really not the floodplain.

This is a little higher ground and if you look kind of behind us and around us you don't really see tremendously large trees right here.

This is an area that's been farmed a good bit.

But this is a little bit of a buffer zone that the park service got to introduce you to the area and then, once you walk down just a few feet, you see you're onto the floodplain and the whole world changes.

You see that great diversity of hardwoods down there.

And there'll be some sunshine and there'll be some shade because when you get trees that high and a summery day like today the sun will be going in and out.

And perhaps some animals.

Will there be... Will we see some snakes?

Well, I think this is a place where you can expect-- near the water especially-- to see a snake every now and then but the reptiles are already out.

Take a look right there on that pine.

It's a large lizard.

Is it a lizard?

That's a lizard.

See, real shiny scales, there.

One of the skinks.

And then, look at the front end.

The relatively bright red head and very broad head on it.

That tells you it's a male, that red color and the common name for that one would be the broad-headed skink.

And it feeds on mainly invertebrates insects and spiders, which it catches probably right there under the log that it's sunning on.

This is going to be a lot of fun.

I think we'll be struck with the size of the trees and the great diversity of life on the floodplain.

We're going to go lower.

Yeah, let's just head down the way.

Really, if we just follow this road on down we're going to see some very interesting changes.

Right along the edge where the high ground and the floodplain meet look at all of the diversity, now, right here.

Things that we didn't see just a few feet above.

Few feet of elevation change in this place really causes drastic change.

Lots of ferns in there, Jim.

Big cinnamon ferns, they're called.

Tremendously large fronds on them, leaves on them.

Like a little extra moisture.

Shiny, green-leafed plant down there.

It's called dog hobble.

It's all over the place.

Dogs would get hobbled by that plant it grows so thickly.

Then, the other thing you expect on floodplains with lots of dead material-- leaves and other things on the bottom-- the decomposers come in, don't they?

Look at that mushroom.

Not the prettiest mushroom we've ever seen.

Well, no, it's not beautiful but what it does is beautiful.

It takes dead material, breaks it down releases those nutrients back into the soil.

Thank goodness for that because that makes them available to plants that are starting out here and as we said, there are some big ones right on the edge of the floodplain.

This could be flooded a dozen times a year.

Yeah-- comes up here, gets to this far, far up.

And look at the loblolly pine.

Now, we talked about big trees.

Probably a diameter on that tree of around four feet through.

Loblolly pines-- loblolly's an old indian word that means "mud puddle"-- they grow in wet places, but they do best on ground that's just a little higher than the rest of the floodplain.

And we'll be watching for more of these but that is a rather substantial...

It's magnificent.

You can talk about diameter and circumference would be about ten feet and that, I understand, is typical of some of the big loblollies in here.

Straight up, too.

You just go straight up for the sunlight and in here, with a lot of tall trees you have to struggle to get up on top so that you can become a canopy tree and get access to all the energy from the sunlight.

Now, there's another tree-- just look right over here-- with the nice, smooth bark on it.

This is probably the last time we're going to see that for a while because it needs a little higher ground.

That's american beech.

Leaves out on it rather nicely.

It likes sloping, moist hillsides but doesn't do well on a floodplain proper so as we walk out further on the floodplain we won't see any more american beeches until we hit some high ground again which we might do a little bit later on.

The road beckons; why don't we just head on?

As we get out on the floodplain a little bit more the world really does begin to change.

We're not rid of the big trees yet but you can see a pretty good diversity of hardwoods coming in.

Rather lush down here.

Almost like a greenhouse, Rudy.

In a sense, I guess it really is-- lots of moisture and then a canopy to kind of keep the moisture in.

Trees that come in and dominate in areas like this are red maple one that's very widespread sometimes even called swamp maple because it likes a little extra moisture.

Three lobes to that leaf.

Kind of a reddish stem on the leaf.

And the leaves are opposite.

If you look closely the branches and the leaves are coming off opposite of each other.

The other tree that comes in in these places-- it looks a lot like red maple-- and you know that one, Jim with the five lobes on that leaf, the sweet gum.

Sweet gum, sure.

And they eventually, you know really dominate in here but five lobes to the leaf almost like a star shape in a sense.

And the leaves there instead of being opposite, are alternate.

But both red maple and sweet gum do really well in floodplain forests.

They grow big and there's a lot of them.

Yeah, they dominate in these river- bottom forests.

Now, another one that's more of an understory tree a tree that really doesn't get up very high is the one with the white flowers on there.

Now, that reminds me of a hydrangea.

Uh-huh, it does look a little bit like hydrangea.

That one's called elderberry.

And the fruit is used in production of jellies and wines.

Look at the leaves, now-- compound leaves and the leaves there are opposite, too coming off the same point and then, clusters of white flowers this time of year and you can imagine the insect activity that comes to that probably a little later on in the day once things warm up a little bit.

And that's elderberry.

Elderberry.

Now, another one that's got compound leaves on it-- look right there.

Kind of a shrubby-looking plant, shiny leaves.

Winged sumac is one name for that, or dwarf sumac.

It's not one of the poisonous sumacs at all.

It doesn't bother you to touch it.

But see, it does well in a situation like this, too.

If you look carefully at the compound leaves it looks like there are little wings along the main stem of that leaf.

That gives it the name winged sumac or dwarf sumac.

Would you call it a shrub, a bush or a tree?

That's really shrubby.

That doesn't get to be very large at all in here.

And then, look at all of the flowers on the vine that's just covering everything here.

A nonnative plant that has come into the southeast and done well-- japanese honeysuckle.

Flowers starting out very white and then as they get older turning that yellowish color.

It's an escape that does well when you give it a little bit of moisture.

And then, above all of this-- and there are a few taller trees here-- look at the gray stuff hanging down that is so typical of this part of the united states.

Spanish moss.

Right-- one of the flowering plants that does look mosslike.

It's an epiphyte-- it lives up in the trees but it's not parasitic at all.

Almost looks like hair hanging down and they get nutrients from the moist air here in congaree swamp.

You know you're in the south when you see spanish moss.

Yeah, it's really typical of this part of the united states for sure.

Just head on down the road.

Look what's in the bush over here.

Turtle, huh?

Yeah.

Now, that's one that really is typical of a place just like this.

Doesn't need a whole lot of standing water.

I think that's the one called the eastern mud turtle.

How can you tell what kind it is?

All right, the shape of the shell tells me it's one of the musk turtles but there are a couple of varieties here.

The thing that really gives this one away is this scale right here on the underside that is triangular-shaped and it's like m-u-d for mud turtle.

If it's square it would be another one called a stinkpot.

Now, look at that thing moving its neck, see?

Tremendously long neck.

No teeth in turtles but that little projection on the skull and lower jaw is enough to pinch and cause some problems.

This thing is a scavenger feeding on living or dead material that it finds.

Slow-moving and loves little ditch areas really, right alongside of this trail, see so we're finding it in exactly the right kind of habitat.

Fully grown, mature?

This is an adult.

I would guess it was a female.

She looks pretty good size and I'll bet you there may be some eggs in there that she'll be laying fairly soon.

How many eggs might this turtle lay?

Usually about four in a clutch.

She digs a hole with those back legs and puts them in and then covers it up.

Why don't we go ahead and start walking again?

I'll just leave her right here.

In case some vehicle comes down the road, it won't get her.

All right.

This place is almost beginning to feel like a cathedral.

A natural resource study had 320 plants in the area.

Great diversity-- some of them getting to be fairly large.

Here's one of the trees that usually does get to be a big tree.

Just getting started now.

Hackberry is one of the names for it or sugarberry is really the more proper name for this species.

Leaves identify it there.

Looks a lot like that american beech barkwise once it gets to be a little bit bigger.

What's this stuff now that dominates here?

Cane, looks like cane.

Uh-huh, switch cane is the common name for it.

Can be used to make switches, of course, to correct children but it really does dominate here sometimes even in large amounts called canebrakes.

And talking about a large amount of one plant my gracious, just look up the side of that dead oak tree.

What is that, Jim?

That's a healthy ivy, that's for sure.

Poison ivy from the bottom to the top.

Tree long since dead.

It's doing very, very well.

Three parts to the leaf, three leaflets.

And there's recent fruit on it-- green now.

It'll turn white a little bit later.

Spectacular the way vines do here.

Not only is this the land of giant trees-- also giant vines.

Pretty to look at, but leave it alone.

Mm-hmm.

Green plants are always struggling for a little bit of sunlight and so vines, you see, have to climb up to get the energy they need to make food.

Here's something else now that's climbing but it's just getting started here.

I love this tree.

It's a young one-- bald cypress is the common name.

Look at those new leaves.

So pretty.

Frilly leaves.

It's one of the conifers that actually sheds all of its leaves at one time.

Gets to be, of course, a great deal larger than that but starting out on really a drier area.

Usually when you see that you think of water nearby, though.

And then, probably the most common understory tree in this place never getting up into the canopy is the one with the large, green leaves over there.

And what is that?

Papaw is the common name for it.

It flowers early in the spring.

The fruit is edible; it's bananalike when you eat it.

That appears late summer, early fall.

But look at the leaves on that tree and when you begin to look out there you see a lot of those young papaws just getting started here and doing really well in the shade.

See, there's some plants that really do well in the shade.

Let's just keep walking.

The national park service does a good job with the trails and the boardwalks in here.

Yeah, it really does make it accessible except when the water's up and that makes a trail like this a little tough.

And the water does get this far.

We're two miles away from the congaree river right now.

You can imagine trying to live here.

Take a look right at this plant right here that's struggling to keep a good grip in relatively muddy and wet soils buttressing the base.

Isn't that spectacular?

One of the oaks.

I imagine that's probably laurel oak.

Doing well here because it's come up with some way to support itself.

But the floods really do make a difference here.

The congaree river really is a good distance away today but we know for a fact it used to be right here because right across from us is what is usually called an oxbow lake.

If you can look carefully you can almost get a feeling for a little bit of a curve in that lake.

That is a piece of the congaree river that was pinched off probably thousands of years ago.

As the river twists and turns it pinches off little bits and pieces of itself.

Pretty deep.

And check out the trees between us and weston lake, that oxbow lake.

Very healthy forest.

Nice, and a different kind of feeling here because we're lower and wetter most of the time.

This is a cypress-tupelo swamp situation.

The rounded bases out there-- the more rounded bases on the trees-- are buttresses on the water tupelo.

Very round, and then every now and then you see fluted bases of the cypresses.

The bald cypresses get fairly large in this place.

Tremendous in some parts of congaree swamp national monument.

And then all of those knees, Jim-- modified roots on the cypress trees.

Very typical of the cypress-tupelo swamp.

Hundreds of kinds of birds calling all the time down here.

Great diversity here.

You mentioned the different types of plants but a great diversity of birds, reptiles and amphibians butterflies, dragonflies, on and on we go.

Moisture makes a difference and also you need a great diversity of habitats or homes for these plants and animals and we've seen a lot of that diversity here and as we mentioned, in this place just moving up a foot or so really makes all the difference in the world.

For instance, here we are right next to that oxbow lake.

Low, flooded area, usually.

Little higher ground.

Now, that's a loblolly pine tree.

That is a record tree, I would think!

Isn't that phenomenal?

Yeah, that's one of the largest in the state of south carolina.

And when you look up the side after you get past the poison ivy again look at the height on that thing!

Fantastic!

And you know, it's amazing when you stand beside something like this you're looking at a living thing that's been alive at least 200 or so years.

And that's one of the largest living things I guess we'll stand beside in a while.

Half a dozen national records right here in congaree.

Yeah, great diversity here.

This pine, we said, likes higher ground-- just a little bit higher.

And you see, it's just a few feet above everything else.

That makes all the difference in the world.

The land of giants.

Let's head on.

This is a very different area now from everything else we've seen because there's more water here, usually.

We saw weston lake, and oxbow lakes have water but it's standing.

This is cedar creek here and as you see, it's moving through slowly.

This cleared-off area is great for animals especially when you clear it off by water.

And there is the snake you would expect to see in a river-bottom swamp area-- the brown water snake.

Look how big that thing is!

Nonpoisonous, not going to hurt you.

Nonpoisonous snake, and in the water like that you can see those big, squarish blotches right down the center of the back and also down the sides.

Pretty big head on that snake.

A lot of people think it's poisonous but nonpoisonous.

Most visitors to the congaree can be expected to see that snake if they look close.

That's one that comes out and suns.

That's what he's doing.

And look-- easing down into the water now and really disappears into that brown water.

It's an easy snake's name to remember because brown water snakes do like brown, river-bottom forest-swamp situations.

This area, being open is good for butterflies and dragonflies.

Well, you say dragonfly.

Look right down here and see the one with the glistening wings right down in front of us there.

Beautiful animal!

Spectacular-- just emerged now.

When the wings glisten like that that lets you know that that one just emerged and it's drying out here.

The wings are forming properly.

Then it'll fly up into this open area for a while and then eventually start hunting for food.

Very vulnerable now.

Lot of big dragonflies feed on those recently emerged dragons.

Will it take mosquitoes as well?

Mosquitoes-- it feeds on mosquitoes and it also feeds on deerflies and horseflies and things that really do cause us some problems every now and then.

A good place for butterflies and dragonflies.

And for the reptiles, again, too.

But open areas like this especially when you keep them cut and let clover...

There's white clover over there.

Look at the butterfly.

Zebra-- you've told... Zebra swallowtail butterfly.

But that's the first time i've seen a zebra swallowtail.

Look at the tails.

Look at the...

When it's moving its wings there's red underneath-- sort of a red stripe underneath-- and then, of course the zebra-looking markings on the wing.

Why did you anticipate we might see a zebra swallowtail in congaree?

Because of papaw trees that we saw coming down the road.

Very common tree here and the zebra swallowtail lays eggs exclusively on papaws.

That's what the caterpillar feeds on.

That is a beautiful butterfly there on white clover.

It's interesting.

That's an interesting clover because you see the way there are a whole pile of flowers there.

The ones on the top, right in the center haven't even opened yet.

The ones on the side are actually open.

Look what happens to the flowers after they bloom.

They point downward and so that zebra swallowtail doesn't mess with anything pointing downward.

Just works on the... Fresh flower.

On the open flowers.

I see a little dragonfly here, too.

Now, the zebra swallowtail gets nectar for food.

He just landed right here.

Look at the little clubtail dragonfly eating, it looks like from here, a mayfly.

You see it?

Right there, just chomping down.

That's what's happening, yeah.

A mayfly, yeah.

We talked about them eating horseflies and deerflies and mosquitoes.

They also feed on mayflies there.

Look at the way mouthparts are moving chewing it up.

See how wide apart the eyes are on that clubtail dragonfly?

That's typical of that group of dragonflies.

Not as large as the dragonflies go down here.

No, no, no, no.

But that one is really interesting making a meal of the mayfly.

Mayflies live in the water like dragonflies do and then come out but mayflies don't fly very well.

They're pretty flimsy animals.

There's a mayfly there just on the leaf right close to the dragon there.

Pretty flimsy wings.

See, kind of a yellowish body couple of projections out the back end.

They live one day as adults and, of course, reproduction is very, very important in that one day.

Fish will eat them.

Right, and so do the dragonflies-- recycle the mayflies into dragonflies.

Two very primitive insects that, uh, you see one of them takes advantage of the other one here.

Now, I find this hard to believe talking of dragonflies.

Look-- look right there on the sumac right in front of us.

See that dragonfly sitting right up there with his back end dangling down?

Three or four inches.

A monster!

And that one's usually called the hero darner.

It's a big one.

The abdomen looks like a darning needle to some people and so the name "darner."

but the hero, it's a big one.

It's one of the largest dragonflies that's found in this part of the united states.

Look at the... Let's just get a little better view kind of on the back, Jim.

But look at the eyes on that thing!

Bluish reflections.

Those are compound eyes.

And these eyes, now are not separated by a great distance as we saw in that clubtail.

They're crammed together.

And when anything moves in front of that dragonfly it spots it without any problem.

Now, that is another spectacular animal.

There are so many interesting things.

I saw some movement over here.

Look at the hackberry butterfly that's landed right in the path down here.

See it?

Mm-hmm.

Right in front of us a little bit flexing its wings.

Kind of hard to see markings on that but, again, coming toward that white clover.

But you can see a lot of eyespots on that wing.

Caterpillar feeds only on the... Or almost only on the hackberry trees-- the sugarberry trees-- that we saw a little bit earlier.

So that's where the name comes from?

That's the name.

A lot of times, these common names connect the animal with a plant that the caterpillar feeds on.

That, again, is a beautiful butterfly and really a common one here in congaree.

Open, sunny areas bring out activity but next to this water, Rudy the big trees-- are these cypress or are they tupelo?

All right, this again is that cypress-tupelo swamp situation that we saw earlier.

The one over there with the really fluted base is the bald cypress tree.

And then the ones with the more rounded bases are the water tupelo.

So we have both and then the fluting gives it away-- the cypress.

Yeah, this is a good way to really kind of get a cross-section of a cypress-tupelo swamp, too and then the dark water of cedar creek easing on down around the bend there.

Different kinds of habitats-- great diversity of habitats at this place-- and that's what, you know, makes it special.

Before we start even walking much further look right on the ground there.

What in the world is that?

Now, that is mating dragonflies.

Remember the clubtails we saw earlier?

Two dragonflies.

Two dragonflies, not one.

The one up front there is the male.

He's grabbed the female with a couple of claspers, they're called on his... End of his abdomen.

Grabs her right behind the head holds her in position and then she turns her abdomen underneath his body to receive sperm.

And they're, as you see, not flying.

Sometimes you actually see them flying united like that.

Here they are on the ground.

And again, the same dragonfly that we saw, you know, feeding a moment ago.

You come to these open areas to get food.

You also come here to look for mates.

Lots of interesting things going on in the open spaces.

But let's head back into the woods.

Okay.

This is a very special hardwood forest, isn't it?

It sure is a very humbling experience because of the size in here.

And shaded out a good bit.

Those canopy trees go up so much that we're really more in the shade now than we are in the sunlight and, of course, that's perfect for a number of living things and that tree, especially, is a good example of a species that really does well in this river-bottom forest.

Sweet gum.

We saw smaller ones earlier.

Look at the girth on that tree-- the size around!

They dominate.

Leaning over, though, Rudy.

Leaning a little bit and the root system doesn't really go down very deep because this is a floodplain, you know.

It's very wet there, and once you're tilting if the wind hits you just right this kind of thing happens.

That's a willow oak that was toppled a couple of years ago and boy, did that really change the world down here when it fell knocking down so many other trees and opening a space in that canopy.

Had to be a record-size tree.

Record-size tree, surely is.

Why don't we work our way around the other side and see what the root system looks like?

Oh, my goodness!

Oh, wow!

Spectacular!

Shallow root.

Shallow root structure, though.

Tremendous root system on this thing.

Goes out to the side, though.

It doesn't go down to the bottom very deep at all.

And when you're standing here look at all of them just spreading out, see?

Pretty big roots but that doesn't anchor the tree down terribly well.

Once you get as tall as this thing you're pretty easily toppled over.

Of course, once it's down it begins to be recycled quickly and things like those spiders come in that would never have had an opportunity to live in this situation.

It's a good place to end this visit to the Congaree Swamp National Monument.

Oh, it is in a way because we said at the beginning this is the land of giants and even when the giants fall down we're still dwarfed by their size.

This is a place that really you must come and see for yourself.

Can't really appreciate it until you see it with your own eyes.

Join us again for the next Nature Scene.

[captioning sponsored by the U.S. Department of education captioned bythe caption center wgbh educational foundation] ♪ Nature Scene is made possible in part by grants from: and: