42 Proceedings of the Club 



calities on the Palisades and in the mountains in New Jersey. 

 Miss Ingersoll mentioned Ulster county, Mrs. Britton, High Bridge 

 within the city, and the Secretary stated that he had recently ob- 

 served it at Alpine, N. J., in considerable quantity. Dr. Britton 

 alluded to its desirable qualities as an ornamental tree, improving 

 greatly in cultivation, as may be seen at the Botanical Garden. 



Dr. Britton also reported a gift to the Botanical Garden of 

 about 200 volumes which had belonged to the botanist, David 

 Hosack. They are in excellent condition and some of them ex- 

 tremely rare. 



Adjournment followed. * 



Tuesday Evening, Nov. 14, 1899 



Dr. Rusby in the chair ; 29 persons present. 



Two new members were elected : Miss Carrie Huse, 223 

 West 23d Street, Mrs. Wm. E. Damon, of the same address, both 

 proposed by Miss Murray. 



The scientific program consisted of a paper by Mrs. C. L. 

 Pollard on " Types of Vegetation on the Florida Keys," illustrated 

 by the lantern. Mr. Pollard described the successive steps in the 

 formation of those islands, and distinguished their belts of man- 



r 



grove and occasionally of fine littoral flora, with interior zones 

 known as " scrub-hammock " and " tall-hammock," and with pine- 

 barrens, and salt-barrens. He ascribed the flora to a West Indian 

 origin, and remarked also upon the chief fruits and garden plants 

 cultivated, and the weeds of the gardens. Beautiful views were 

 exhibited, showing the Casuarina, much planted in Key West, 

 competing there with the cocoanut palm as a shade-tree ; Tilland- 

 sias in the scrub-hammock each holding a quart of water among 

 its leaf-bases, even on the driest day, etc. Among the most inter- 

 esting views were those showing the development of an island 

 originated by a single mangrove-tree. The mangrove seedlings 

 drop like a plummot through the water into the mud, and may he 

 washed a little way by the tide, but as the tidal force is small, it is 

 very rare that a mangrove seedling dies, and there is little chance 

 of its failing to strike root promptly, except when it happens, 

 rarely, to strike upon a coral rock. 



Dr. Rusby alluded to the mangrove roots as an important 

 source for tannin. 



