Cordgrass provides edible roots and seeds for rails, songbirds and ducks and, to a lesser extent, sandpipers. Purslanes disseminate an enormous number of seeds which are eaten by songbirds and rodents. Cabbage palm provides fall fruit for robins, warblers, woodpeckers, fish crows, and raccoons. Many of these plants also provide refuge in the form of an almost impenetrable barrier to human and animal hunters. Sawgrass, with its sharp-edged leaves, provides a sanctuary for ducks, as well as supplying a limited amount of food.
Cattails serve as roosts and nesting areas for birds and fish.
Native vegetation of the low ridges includes marsh elder, cordgrass, leather fern, wax myrtle, and cabbage palmetto. The Brazilian pepper, a noxious weed, is rapidly dominating many areas in the interior basin. In addition to the previously mentioned food and habitat functions that the interior wetland vegetation provides for wildlife, it serves important hydrologic functions. The grasses and low shrubs slow runoff, preventing high peak flows and allowing more freshwater recharge. The microflora also greatly aid in maintaining and improving water quality in the wetlands.