GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA 



89 



(Fig. 6.) Several of the smaller streams have large limestone 

 springs at their heads. (Fig. 7.) 



Fig. 7. Large limestone spring at head of Homosassa River about a mile 

 northeast of Homosassa, Citrus County. May 23, 1909. 



Soils. Only a small part of this region has been covered by soil 

 surveys (those of the "Qcala area" and Hernando County), so that 

 it is hardly worth while to try to estimate the percentages of the 

 different types of soil. The principal series thus far named are the 

 "Leon", "Norfolk", "Portsmouth", "Hernando" and "Parkwood", 

 and the texture classes, in order of area, are fine sand (about one- 

 third of the total), swamp, sand, muck, fine sandy loam, tidal 

 marsh, and clay loam. Rock outcrop, presumably all limestone, 

 constitutes about one-third of 1% of the total area as mapped. 

 Where the sand is not too deep, particularly in all the low hammocks 

 and swamps, the influence of lime is plainly shown in the native veg- 

 etation. In a few such places there are deposits of gypsum on or 

 near the surface. No chemical analyses of the soils of this region 

 are available, but they are probably more calcareous than the aver- 

 age for central Florida. 



Vegetation. The vegetation is mostly of the flatwoods type, with 

 a few lime-loving plants, but low calcareous hammocks are more 

 frequent and extensive in this region than in any other, with the 

 possible exception of the east coast. (The great Gulf Hammock in 

 Levy County, .shown in fig. 5, is the most typical example.) The 



