CHAPTER VHI 

 XKe Lxire of tHe Piney "Woods 



TO most people our pine forests are mono- 

 tonous to the point of dreariness, for 

 there is an endless repetition of a single 

 form of tree until the eye wearies of it. 

 Along our eastern border the ground is covered 

 with two species of low-growing palmettos, three 

 or four of small oaks, and quite a variety of shrubs 

 and herbaceous plants. A thorny, woody smilax 

 creeps over much of it, often binding the vegeta- 

 tion together until it is impossible to penetrate 

 the dense growth, and it sometimes climbs well 

 up the pines. In the same part of our region a 

 small palmetto is also found on the rocky ridges 

 in considerable abundance. This is known as 

 the silver palm (Coccothrinax garberi), a lovely 

 species with rich, glossy, deep green leaves having 

 a wonderful satinlike under surface. Here and 

 there are lofty, gaunt dead trees with crooked, 

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