FLORIDA WILD FLOWERS 



INTKODUCTION 



A chief delight of the flower-hunter in the Florida 

 peninsula is that on each day of the year something of 

 interest may be found. Nature — the most successful al- 

 chemist the world has known — works tirelessly here in 

 winter as in summer, transmuting dull earth and air and 

 water into fragrance and color and beauty. 



No other part of our country can show so great a variety 

 in its wild flowers, and in no other state are there so many 

 plants of strange habits and remarkable characteristics. 

 More than three thousand species of flowering plants have 

 already been listed as growing in Florida, and this vast 

 number does not include the many cultivated plants. 

 Northern flowers mingle here with the abundant southern 

 flora, and in the country below Miami is a tropical flora, 

 related botanically to th© West Indies rather than to the 

 United States. 



In variety of size we have the great magnolia, whose 

 perfumed flowers are larger than one's hand, and we have 

 also the tiny wolflia, smallest of known flowering plants, 

 whose entire growth floating in the water is smaller 

 than the head of a common pin. " 



The great diversity of soils in Florida, often in a limited 

 area, gives rise to a remarkable variety in the flora. From 

 high pineland to marsh, and from sandy shore to swamp, 

 each change in the character of the soil is shown in the 

 different plant associations. In this diversified country are 



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