126 IN LOWER. FLORIDA WILDS 



purely tropical and are derived from Middle 

 America. The pickerel weed and common reed 

 are widely distributed. The cattail extends north 

 to Canada and south throughout the West 

 Indies; it also lives in both Europe and Asia 

 and now in New Zealand. It is probable that a 

 majority of the plants of the Upper Glades are of 

 northern derivation and that the greater part of 

 the flora of the southern end is Antillean. 



Although only the preliminary work of drainage 

 has been done yet it has had a marked effect on 

 the vegetation. Along the banks of the canals 

 and on all slightly elevated spots a variety of 

 trees and shrubs are springing up, so that where 

 formerly the eye swept over a monotonous even 

 expanse of saw grass, the view now presents 

 patches of incipient forests. This new element 

 in the flora is especially noticeable around the 

 eastern border which is somewhat drier than the 

 main body of the swamp. Here groves of young 

 timber are claiming titles on every hand. 



One of the results of partial drainage is that 

 along this same east border numerous low, tim- 

 bered "islands," which were formerly quite wet, 

 have now been changed to dry land. A con- 



