THE EVERGLADES 123 



parts of the Everglades. The common name of 

 this plant is from the striking resemblance of its 

 long, hairy flower heads to the tail of a fox. This 

 species attains a height of quite fifteen feet and 

 its immense heads are often two inches in diame- 

 ter and as many feet long. I have elsewhere 

 mentioned the Phragmites or common reed, hol- 

 low stems of which are used for plant stakes and 

 a variety of other purposes. It is abundant in 

 places. Often associated with it is a boneset 

 which grows ten feet high and also the elegant 

 Thalia with its attractive purple flowers held 

 aloft. In suitable stations there is an exaggerated 

 bullrush (Scirpus validus) fully fifteen feet high, 

 with stems a generous inch in diameter. 



An immense weed belonging to the Amaranth 

 family seems to be spreading over the recently 

 drained parts of the swamp. It is the water hemp 

 (Acnida australis) and it frequently attains a stem 

 diameter of more than a foot and a height of 

 twenty feet; yet this gigantic plant is an annual 

 and makes its astonishing growth in a single 

 summer. In places it densely covers large tracts, 

 and at a little distance may easily be mistaken 

 for real forest. Its great trunk, however, is little 



