Alligator Lake in the Mississippi delta, near Hollandale, Mississippi. That’s a cypress tree, and the small raised structures are cypress “knees”. For a long time, these were thought to provide oxygen to the tree when the other roots were underwater. Science indicates not. Likely they are mechanical structures to keep the tree upright in the muddy lake bottom. The lake does contain alligators, but they weren’t visible when we were there. There is a large fish population which can’t be eaten because of the high levels of pesticides in the water from extensive nearby corn, soybean, rice and other agribusiness.