FERXS OF Th'OnCAL FLORIDA 



1-29 



of limostoiic ami ol' coral rotk. TIk' one 

 area comprises the Everglade Keys' 

 (liinestone)j wliieli are situated in tlie 

 southeastern part of the Everglades; 

 the other, the Florida Keys (coral 

 roek and limestone), which are situ- 

 ated in the tropical sea. Although 

 outside the hounds of the t»n*rid zone 

 tlu'ir vegetation, like that of tlu'ir 

 neighhors, the greater numher of the 

 l-5ahania Islan<ls. is prcdnminanllv trop- 

 ical. 



The Everglade Keys consist of two 

 main divisions, the Biscayne pineland- 

 and the Long Key pineland. The foi- 

 mer group is made up of ahout a dozen 

 larger islands, which are mostly 

 hounded by the Everglades on two sides 

 and separated from one another by nar- 

 row channel-like intersecting prairies. 

 The Long Key group has a much 

 smaller area than the Biscayne pine- 

 land. It consists of about five larger 

 islands and a few smaller ones. Both 

 groups are of limestone, and they are 

 sliglitly elevated above the Everglades. 

 The rock is rather porous, and the 

 softer spots of the almost universally 

 exposed surface have been eroded 

 mostly by leaching out, so as to form a 

 surface honeycombed with all sizes of 

 cavities having very ragged and sharp 

 edges. These limestone islands are al- 

 most completely forested with the 

 Caribbean pine (Pinus caribcea) which 

 grows nearly everywhere on the exposed 

 rock. However, the pine woods, or 

 pinelands, are interrupted here and 



'The word "key" (Spanish cayo, Britisli ca>i). 

 primarily applied to islands along the coast in and 

 near Spanish speakiniE: countries, largely replaces 

 the use of the word "island" in southern Florida, 

 and by the inhabitants is applied to islands in the 

 Everglades as well as to the islands of the coasts 

 and reef of Florida. 



- These two groups of islands are separated from 

 each other by a distance of three miles. The in- 

 tervening Everglades contain a number of sloughs 

 which represent the upper reaches of an unmapped 

 river that flows southward and empties into the 

 Bay of Florida. The larger or eastern group of 

 islands takes its name from Bay Biscayne which 

 washes the shores of one of the islands for a dis- 

 tance of about fifteen miles. The smaller group 

 takes its name from Long Key. the largest island 

 lying west of the sloughs referred to above. 



lliiTc l)y ti;iiiiiini(k>''' or areas of hard- 

 wood .-liiiili> Mild t rcr-, xiiiic areas small 

 ;iiid some mucii larger, although all 

 lakcii together these comprise l)ut a 

 very small |ieicciitage of the region un- 

 iler consideration. The hammocks may 

 lie divided into two groui)s: First, the 

 high |»ineland hammocks which are 

 islands, so (o speak, of hardwood trees 

 in the pine woods. They are dry except 

 for the water contained in deep lime 

 sinks and in the humid air. 'J'hey num- 

 lier atiout a score. Second, are the low 

 l)ineland hammocks, indefinite in num- 

 licr and situated along the boundary 

 line of the pinelands and the Ever- 

 glades proper and prairies. These are 

 usually high and dry toward the pine 

 woods and low and wet along the Ever- 

 glades or prairies. 



The ratio of pineland ferns to ham- 

 mock ferns seems astonishingly small. 

 Only two kinds of ferns are naturally 

 ])ine]and plants. Even these two ferns 

 will spring up in clearings in hammocks 

 which have been partly destroyed either 

 by nature or by man. The other fifty 

 species of ferns are hammock plants ! 

 Their habit ranges from the stiffest to 

 the most graceful, and their structure 

 from the coarsest to the most delicate. 

 The pineland species are strictly terres- 

 trial in habit. The hammock kinds are 

 to a great extent epiphytic. 



The hammocks of the Biscayne pine- 

 land are rich repositories of ferns. 

 Xearly all the kinds of ferns of tropical 

 Florida may be found in them. The 

 well-like lime sink.?, the hammock floor, 

 and the trunks and limbs of rough- 

 barked trees are the habitats of the 

 many specie.^, and each and all form 

 ferneries of indescribable beauty. They 

 can be appreciated by the eye alone, 

 even the camera falls far short of doing 

 them justice. In some places the deep 



^ A hammock — the word proltahly of Indian ori- 

 gin — is a dense growth of mostly broad-leaved 

 shrubs and trees, thus giving shade, in a pine 

 forest or on a prairie. The use of the word is 

 confined especially to Florida and adjai'eiit states. 

 It was formerly confused with the word hummock. 



