THE PLANTING OF OUR FLORA 161 



former set of plants. Either the conditions had 

 been unfavorable for their germination or the 

 seeds may have been immature. It is probable 

 that in the near future there will be another crop. 

 The same thing is true of Trema floridana, another 

 of our small, short-lived trees, and perhaps of some 

 others. Our common swamp magnolia (supposed 

 to be Magnolia glauca) grows to be a large tree and 

 produces seed abundantly, but while the parent 

 lives one rarely sees a young plant under or about 

 it. As soon as it dies a host of seedlings come up, 

 closely filling the space where it stood, and for a 

 series of years a battle royal takes place between 

 the young trees. The stronger gradually choke 

 out the weaker ones and eventually two or three 

 overcome all the rest, or it may be that only a 

 single victor will survive, to occupy the site of the 

 former tree. 



There are a number of plants found in the 

 Homestead country in Dade County not known 

 from any other part of the United States. Among 

 these is the beautiful Tetrazygia bicolor, a shrub of 

 the fire-swept pine woods but becoming a small 

 tree in the protected hammocks. It belongs to 

 the Melastomaceae, a family which has its metropo- 



