1 86 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT, 



The lists are divided into five parts, as follows: — (i) trees, 

 large enough to make lumber ; (2) small trees or large shrubs (some 

 of which may become good-sized trees elsewhere) ; (3) woody 

 vines; (4) ordinary shrubs; (5) herbs. These categories grade into 

 each other more or less, for Nature draws few sharp lines ; but in 

 the great majoritv of cases there is no doubt about which class a 

 plant belongs in.* The cellular cryptograms (i. e., mosses, lichens, 

 fungi, etc. j are left out entirely, partly because the writer is not one 

 of those few persons who can identify them at sight, and partly be- 

 cause they are so small as to be insignificant in cjuantitative anal- 

 yses. 



In each of the five classes the species are arranged in order of 

 percentages. The percentage figures precede the names, except in 

 the case of a few of the smallest or least explored regions, as ex- 

 plained above, and toward the foot of the lists, where they are omit- 

 ted because they would require too many decimal places. 



A feature of these lists which seems to be entirely new is the 

 indication, by arbitrary symbols, of species that are decidedly more 

 or less abundant in a given region than in the whole area considered. 

 Where a species is more abundant than in the average area a + 

 sign is used, and where it is more abundant than in any other region 

 the sign is doubled. Where it is less abundant than the average the 

 fact is indicated by a — sign. Of course theoretically in any region 

 every species mentioned is either more or less abundant than it is in 

 northern Florida as a whole, but these symbols are used only where 

 the apparent difference is great enough so that it is not likely to he 

 reversed by future investigations. 



This scheme has both a scientific and a practical value. First, 

 it shows at a glance what species are most characteristic of each 

 region, and which may be assumed to prefer the particular soil 

 conditions that prevail in that region. Some interesting conclusions 

 are brought out in this way in some of the regional descriptions. 

 Second, any one who is looking for a supply of any particular kind 

 of timber, or any herb, can tell by the double + marks just where 



*In a few of the lists the s.ame species (e. _g., Kyssa Ogcche) appears both 

 as a large tree and as a small tree or shr.ub, but not without reason. The 

 persimmon (Diospyros Virgiiiiaiia) is often a full-sized tree, but shrubby speci- 

 mens are more numerous than arborescent ones, and consequently it appears in 

 most of the lists under the head of small trees or shrubs. The same i> true 

 of the s.assafras, except that it rarely becomes a regular tree in Florida. 



