CONIFEROUS FORESTS 361 



ventures profitable, large areas of old dunes have been cleared of their 

 spruce pines and planted in pineapples. The pineapple is peculiar in 

 belonging to a family of air-plants (Bromeliacece) , and taking very 

 little nourishment from the soil. 



Our southernmost conifer, Pinus Caribcea, seems to have no dis- 

 tinctive common name in general use. (It has been called "Cuban 

 pine " by several writers on forestry in recent years, but that name would 

 be more appropriate for Pinus Cubensis, a species confined to eastern 

 Cuba.) It is abundant in South Florida, and may extend along the 

 coast to Georgia and Mississippi, though this point has not yet been 

 determined beyond question. It is said to occur also in the Bahamas, 

 western Cuba, the Isle of Pines, and British Honduras. It grows in 

 pure stands, like the long-leaf, and south of the Caloosahatchee Eiver 

 it is almost the only pine, and more abundant than all other trees com- 

 bined. It is confined to low regions within 100 feet of sea-level, and the 

 saw-palmetto is usually the most conspicuous feature of the undergrowth 

 (in Florida, but not in the tropics, for this palmetto does not grow 

 farther south). 



It grows mostly in sandy soil north of Miami, and on limestone rock 

 south of there, where sand is scarce. Although it occupies the driest 

 soils within its range (quite unlike its near relative P. Elliottii), the 

 country where it grows is so low that there is usually water within two 

 or three feet of the surface. The climate is subtropical, with no snow 

 and little frost, and the summers are much wetter than the winters. 



This species withstands fire about as well as P. pahistris and 

 P. Elliottii do, or perhaps even better, and is exposed to it as often. 



Its wood is similar to that of the long-leaf pine, except that it is 

 more resinous and brittle, and therefore is not used much for lumber 

 except locally where there is no other pine within easy reach. The gum 

 does not flow readily, and consequently very little turpentine is ob- 

 tained from this species; but it is not unlikely that the increasing 

 scarcity of long-leaf pine may before long bring about the invention 

 of some method for utilizing P. Caribcea as a profitable source of naval 

 stores. The range of this species lies almost entirely south of the cotton 

 crop, but the soil or rock in which it grows is being planted extensively 

 to grape-fruit, mangoes, avocadoes, and other tropical fruits. 



voi,. lxxxiv. — 25. 



