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various shades of green, but they were all sombre. Scrub-oaks 

 {Qiierciis pumila, Q. myrtifolia), bay-berry {Cerothamnus ceri- 

 ferus), jaupon {Ilex vomitoria), and dune-bay (Tamala littoralis) 

 formed the bulk of this vast Lilliputian hammock or forest. Here 

 and there, however, the hardwood covering was broken by large 

 dashes of white or green saw-palmetto {Serenoa repens). Oc- 

 casionally the proportions of palms and hardwoods were re- 

 versed. Then, often, dome-like growths of the pale-green scrub- 

 oak {Quercus pumila) and the deep-green bayberry {Cerothamnus 

 ceriferus) rose from the sea of the saw-palmetto. The slender 

 whip-like twigs of the oaks were sometimes defoliated by the 

 never-ceasing, often violent, winds off the ocean. A dash of a 

 green, quite different from all others, indicated a depressed mass 

 of red-cedar {Sahina) which grew here under difficulties. The 

 imminent storm decided us to make haste for Jacksonville, 

 where, also, our proposed studies on some recently discovered 

 prickly-pears were defeated for the time being. 



Up to northern Florida the hardwood trees were in leaf. 

 Thence northward, owing to the ravages of repeated frosts, the 

 trees were mostly mere brown or gray skeletons. However, 

 some of these were furnished with greenery by the more or less 

 copious bunches of mistletoe {Phoradendron flavescens). This 

 parasitic shrub, like most wood parasites, is evergreen, doubtless 

 because the leaves store up mineral matter so slowly that they 

 can persist on the plant for several years before losing their 

 vitality. The mistletoe was most abundant on the rough-barked 

 kinds of oak {Quercus), hickory {Hicoria), and sour-gum {Nyssa). 

 In the swamp the mistletoe occurred low down on the trees, in 

 the uplands it was almost invariably up in the tops of the tall 

 trees just in the positions one finds the birds in such places. 

 They are responsible for carrying the sticky fruits of the mistle- 

 toe from tree to tree or sowing them on the branches where the 

 clumps later adorn the trees. 



The uplands were devoid of decided color, except where the 

 pine tree grew. The swamps managed to maintain some green 

 tones in the tangles of evergreen cat-briers {Smilax) and the 

 patches of cane {Arundinaria). Tufts of mosses also helped 

 out in a small way on the wet logs. In the Carolinas grasses 

 were in evidence. The swamps and streams were decorated 

 with myriads of silver-tipped spears {Erianthus) often standing 



