![Kissimmee Prairie Preserve](https://floridahikes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2014-01-KPPSP-North-95-690x518.jpg)
Florida’s prairies come in two flavors: dry and wet. Just like the prairies of the Midwest, these prairies are treeless and open grasslands, many of which are seasonally inundated with water. Wildflowers like deer’s-tongue, blazing star, and pine lily thrive here, lending color to the grasslands year-round.
![Hopkins Prairie, Ocala National Forest](https://floridahikes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2009-02-Hopkins-38-690x462.jpg)
Prairies may contain islands of hammocks, or may be islands themselves within a pine flatwoods or scrub habitat.
![Florida Panther NWR](https://floridahikes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2015-01-FL-Panther-18-690x460.jpg)
Prairies can host bayheads, cypress domes, and freshwater marshes. Less than 20% of Florida’s prairies are under state protection; most have been converted to cattle ranches, sod farms, and citrus groves.
![open prairie north of Lake Okeechobee](https://floridahikes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2009-10-Brighton-Ranch-690x443.jpg)
The Everglades contains the world’s only freshwater marl prairies, or sawgrass prairies, where vast expanses of razor-sharp sawgrass grow out of a base of exposed limestone covered with just a few inches of slowly flowing water, the “river of grass” that moves towards the sea.
![The vast marl prairie of the Everglades](https://floridahikes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2015-07-Pay-Hay-Okee-23-690x460.jpg)