THE LURE OF THE PINEY WOODS 179 



ing it specifically from the tree form. It is well 

 known however that the seeds of many depau- 

 perate plants are larger than those of well-nourished 

 specimens. For example, Ximenia americana 

 grows in our pineland and hammocks; in the for- 

 mer as a low, stunted shrub where it is burnt off 

 in every fire, but in the latter as a slender tree 

 where it is protected. It has a yellow drupe, larger 

 on the stunted half -burnt bushes than on the well- 

 developed trees. However loath I am to reduce 

 our list of Florida palms it seems necessary to 

 strike this one from it. 



A forest fire at night is a most impressive and 

 terrible sight, especially if it is fanned to fury by a 

 high wind. Great masses of detached flame leap to 

 the very tree tops. There is an incessant crackle 

 and popping as the palmetto leaves catch, with 

 now and then a report like the firing of a gun. 

 The blaze rushes up the trunks of the trees, often 

 into their crowns. An occasional pine once 

 injured, though apparently healthy, may have 

 from a scar an ooze of pitch clear down to the base 

 of the stem. This the fire attacks with incon- 

 ceivable fury. Within the scar the wood is usually 

 decayed, and soon the doomed tree falls with its 



