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The Tropica] Hardwoods of Florida 



For a long time there has been a halo of mystery surrounding the 

 timber resources of Florida, particularly the tropical hardwoods that 

 are generally known to occur in the southern part of the peninsula. 

 The greater portion of the forests of Florida is taken up with the 

 longleaf pine, the southern limit of which is reached in the south 

 central part of the state; then there are a great number of northern 

 hardwoods wliich find their southern limit here, such as the white, 

 jjost, cow, Spanish, red and black oaks, white elm, persimmon, mag- 

 nolia, yellow poplar, red and black gum and several of the ashes and 

 hickories. Toward the southern end of the state the longleaf pine 

 gradually gives way to the Cuban pine, a very close relative to the 

 longleaf. The Cuban pine, however, grows only on the higher and 

 dryer parts of the land. Interspersed among this Cuban pine and 

 covering the tidal shores, swamps and areas bordering the streams 

 and lakes are the tropical hardwoods. 

 Several reports have been spread about 

 that a timber wealth of enormous extent 

 and in a great, undeveloped state is still 

 lying untouched in the southern part of 

 Florida. There is no state department 

 in Florida charged with the survey of its 

 forest resources and up to a recent date 

 no examination of the forest conditions 

 of the state had been made. 



A careful survey of the forest condi- 

 tions in the southern part of the penin- 

 sula shows that there is a great variety 

 and extent of tropical hardwoods cover- 

 ing the entire southern end of the penin- 

 svila. This tropical growth extends 

 farther north on the eastern coast than 

 on the Gulf coast. This is undoubtedly 

 due to the warming influence of the gulf 

 stream. Although there is no hard and 

 fast line which marks the northern limit 

 of this tropical region, yet a line drawn 

 from Mosquito Inlet in Volusia county 

 on the east coast in a southwesterly direc- 

 tion to the lower part of Tampa Bay on 

 the West coast will give an apjiroximate 

 idea of the extent of this region. A 

 great number of the important and valu- 

 able hardwoods found in Cuba, Central 

 America and the West Indies find their 

 northern limit here. It is estimated that 

 the tropical hardwoods cover in round 

 figures about 4,000,000 acres. This rep- 

 resents about thirteen per cent of the total area of the state. 



In the past a good portion of the more accessible tropical forests 

 has been exploited and much valuable material has been sent to the 

 northern markets. Although tlie tropical hardwoods found here do 

 not reach the size and development that they do in the West Indies 

 and Central America because of their location in the extreme northern 

 part of their range, yet therei is no doubt but that they will con- 

 stitute an important source of supply of some of our more valuable 

 cabinet and furniture woods, especially those manufactured locally 

 and sent to all parts of the country. 



The general popular conception of southern Florida is that it is 

 wholly covered with swamps of which the Everglades are typical. 

 The Everglades themselves occupy about 3,400,000 acres around Lake 

 Okachobee and are practically treeless. Here and there a few islands 

 dot the otherwise monotonous landscape of marsh and sawgrass. On 

 these, Cuban pine and a few tropical shrubs and trees are scattered 

 about, but -the total amount of timber on the area included within 

 the Everglades is negligible. Throughout the remainder of the 

 southern end of the peninsula the tropical hardwoods occur in two 

 general types". 



—28— 



THE MASTIC TREE- 

 MOCK' TYPE OF THE 

 SOl'THK 



The first is locally known as the mangrove swamps, which occur 

 along the tidal shores and in the swamps bordering the streams for 

 many miles back from the sea shores. The principal trees in this 

 type are the red, white and black mangroves, the buttonwood and the 

 seagrape. The mangroves often attain a size of twenty-four inches 

 in diameter and from fifty to seventy feet in height, but the average 

 size is considerably below these figures. They grow very close to- 

 gether and form a dense, almost impenetrable forest. The wood of 

 these mangroves is hard, heavy, highly colored and durable. The 

 trees have been cut considerably In the past both for the high market 

 value of the woods and for their bark, which contains a high percentage 

 of tannic acid. Much of this mangrove lumber has gone into flooring 

 of the highest grades as well as in ship construction and piling. It 

 has been estimated that the red mangrove has built up thousands of 

 acres of swamps and marshes along the 

 sea shores by its remarkable ability to 

 reach out into the salt water with its 

 complex aerial root system and form new 

 soil by holding together the sands, de- 

 bris, etc., which wash in along the shores. 

 The second type of forest which in- 

 cludes some of the more important trop- 

 ical hardwoods is the so-called hardwood 

 ' ' hammock. ' ' This type does not grow 

 i7i the swampy regions, but consists of 

 isolated areas of dense tropical hardwood 

 trees, vines and low plants scattered 

 about on the dryer portions throughout 

 the southern part of the peninsula and 

 on the long, narrow islands known as 

 ' ' keys ' ' just off the coast. It is prin- 

 cipally found on the higher land above 

 tlie mangrove shore type. These "ham- 

 mocks ' ' vary from a few to several thou- 

 sand acres in extent. This type is rep- 

 resentative of what the whole forest of 

 the southern part of Florida would be 

 like if forest fires were excluded. The 

 growth of trees on this type is exceed- 

 ingly dense and thrifty. Young trees 

 are continually coming up to supplant 

 those tliat die out or are removed after 

 lumbering. The growth of the individual 

 trees is exceedingly rapid. The principal 

 trees of this type are the Jamaica dog- 

 wood, a dark, heavy cabinet wood of 

 very handsome grain and color; the 

 mastic, which grows to a good size and is highly prized for its bright 

 colored wood, and the mahogany, the greater part of which has been 

 cut out in this region and is only found now as individual trees 

 scattered along the keys of the coast. It grows rapidly, however, and 

 witli proper protection should be of considerable importance in the 

 future. Other common trees are the ironwood or lignum-vitae, of 

 which our billiard balls, head blocks and piling weights are usually 

 made; the satinwood paradise free, torch wood and two trees locally 

 known as the gumbo limbo, or West Indian birch and manchineel. 

 Besides these principal trees there is a great variety of tropical 

 woods and shrubs, many of which are yet to be classified by our 

 botanists and of which very little is known at present. Most of 

 thenr, either on account of their scarcity or insufficient size, are not 

 and will not become of great commercial importance. All of the 

 above woods are exceedingly valuable for furniture and cabinet woods 

 as well as for interior finish, high-grade flooring, ship construction, 

 etc., on account of their high color, weight, close grain of great 

 beauty, ability to take a high polish, durability, and workability. 



Most of these trees reach a height of from forty to sixty feet and 

 from fifteen to thirty inches in diameter. Many of the better speei- 



-TYPICAL OF THE "HAM- 

 TKOPICAL HAKUWOODS IX 

 ;i!X FLORIDA 



