REGIONAL DESCRIPTIONS 



I. THE WEST COAST ISLANDS 



(Figs. 3, 4, '\,'/. Soil analyses O, P.) 



This includes the Cedar Keys archipelago in Levy County, the St 

 Martin's Keys and other small rocky islands along the coast 01 

 Citrus and adjoining counties, and a narrow line of barrier-beach 

 islands (the Anclote Keys, Long Key, etc.) lying from half a mile 

 to three or four miles off shore in Pinellas County; the whole cov- 

 ering perhaps not more than ten or twelve square miles. 



The Cedar Keys islands are mostly of sand heaped up by the wind 

 (to a height of about 45 feet on Sea Horse Key), but there is con- 

 siderable calcareous material also, in the form of shell fragments. 

 Between them and the mainland the water is very shallow and dot- 

 ted n'ith innumerable patches of salt marsh vegetation (fig. 3), and 

 much of the bottom is covered with oyster bars. There is a wagon 

 road from Cedar Key to the mainland which up to a few years 

 ago was rather unique in being submerged twice at day at high tide. 

 There were a few bridges across the deeper places, and between 

 them stakes were driven along the road so that it could be followed 

 when the tide was up. 



The "keys" of Pinellas County are also very sandy, but seem tu 

 have a larger proportion of shell material than the Cedar Keys 

 group, and there is more lime-loving vegetation. Dunes are not ex- 

 tensively developed. 



Some climatic data for Cedar Keys and Tarpon Springs are giveir 

 in Table 19, in the general part of this report. The climate re- 

 sembles that of the rest of central Florida in having mild winters 

 and wet summers, but the Gulf of Mexico doubtless makes the tem- 

 perature more uniform than. it is in the interior. The rarity of kill- 

 ing frosts is indicated by the occurrence of black mangrove at Cedar 

 Kevs and red mangrove in Pinellas County. 



The principal vegetation types are the sparse coarse grassy vege- 

 tation characteristic of beaches and dunes, the salt marshes and 

 manerove 'swamos (fig. ^v). scrubbv thickets difficult to classifv, 

 and sandy hammocks. The sequence of the following plant list 

 cannot be regarded as very accurate, on account of the writer's 



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