The type of botanizing I do is typically easy and safe, and even one that could be termed almost synonymous with a leisurely stroll. At worst, I might collapse of heat stroke, or encounter a fairly annoyed snake or other venomous critter, or be struck by passing cars. But when I was taking photos of some water-dwelling grass last week in Central Florida, I found out that there are worse things that I might encounter during my obsessive desire to record some member of the Poaceae.
I was standing next to a small lake and moving back and forth along the shore to take better pics of what I took to be Panicum hemitomon. This species is a member of the Panicoideae and a native in this area. It is locally called “maidencane”, and is semi-aquatic, rhizomatous, and can form floating colonies in freshwater. I had been wondering whether it was the look-alike Panicum repens, but the lack of pointed rhizomes, and the lack of sheath/leaf hairs, indicated that it is not that invasive species.
I was thoroughly involved in trying to get good pics when I happened to look down. Imagine my surprise when i found myself gazing at the cold eyes of an alligator!
The animal was perhaps only three steps away from where I was standing. It was a relatively smaller specimen, less than 2 meters or so from head to tail. I knew that gator attacks in the state are fairly rare. There were around 11 unprovoked attacks in 2024, and 23 the year before that, but you never want to be part of that statistic. Most gators will leave an adult human alone if they are on dry land, but they have been known to drag people into the water and kill them.
This was also not my first surprise encounter with a gator nearby. A couple of years back, I was kneeling down gardening when I happened to look back towards the lake that was at the rear of our home. There was a gator standing on land, only a hop and a skip away from me. It probably thought I was legitimate prey because of the smaller profile I had when kneeling down and had gone out of the water to investigate! When in gatorland, it’s a good idea to always be aware that gators can be in the water, and it’s never a good idea to present a profile that makes you look smaller than usual.
In this case I was standing upright, and there was probably very little chance that it would come after me. It stayed still as a statue even as I backed away from it after taking a few pics and chiding it for not making a sound to notify me of its presence. I’ve been in gatorland for a few years now, and am not intimidated by close encounters with smaller gators.
In the end, all’s well that ends well. But if you ever do some botanizing where the gators roam, do be careful when you’re near water. You never know what strange reptilian beast might be eying you as you blithely chase some rare and fascinating floral specimen.
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