Cordgrass is still common, though covering a much smaller area than it once did. A number of these species have high food value for ducks and birds. Wigeongrass, a submerged aquatic found in both the river and ditches, is a major source of food for waterfowl. 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.