NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



day by walking out from DeFuniak 

 Springs or Ponce de Leon, and the 

 Valley, a railroad crosses it near its 

 eastern end, is reached from Vernon or 

 Chipley. R. M. Harper. 



The West Florida Lake Region is a 

 sandy longleaf pine region, compara- 

 tively level except for being pitted with 

 numerous approximately circular de- 

 pressions containing lakes and ponds. 

 The region is almost uninhabited and 

 uncultivated, but of course the lumber 

 and turpentine men have cut or bled 

 all the longleaf pine they could con- 

 veniently reach from the railroads. 



Pinus palustris (longleaf pine), Taxo- 

 dium imbricarium (pond cypress), Mag- 

 nolia grandi flora (Magnolia), Lirioden- 

 dron (tulip poplar), Pinus Elliottii 

 (slash pine), P. serotina (black pine), 

 Quercus laurifolia occur. 



The salamander, Geomys Tuza Mobi- 

 lensis, is abundant, the dry sandy soil 

 furnishing ideal conditions for it. 



Round Lake, near its eastern end, 

 is one of the highest points in Florida, 

 about 300 feet above sea level. R. M. 

 Harper. 



The Apalachicola flatwoods is a low 

 flat region near the Gulf coast, with no 

 rock exposures of any kind, and soils 

 classed as fine sand, swamp, loamy 

 fine sand, etc. Less than 5% is culti- 

 vated, but lumbering and turpentining 

 have been going on for a long time. 

 The vegetation is mostly open pine 

 forests with much low shrubby under- 

 growth, interrupted by many shallow 

 ponds, swamps, and tyty "bays." 

 Oaks are rather scarce. The estuarine 

 swamps of the Apalachicola River 

 belong to this region, but they are much 

 like the Mobile delta, and will be ex- 

 cluded from the following plant list. 



Large trees. Pinus palustris (longleaf 

 pine), Taxodium imbricarium (pond 

 cypress), (slash pine), P. serotina (black 

 pine), Nyssa biflora (black gum), (sweet 

 gum), (red maple), Pinus Taeda (short- 

 leaf pine), Quercus nigra (water oak), 

 Liriodendron (tulip poplar), Magnolia 

 grandiflora (Magnolial. 



The whole region is not very easy to 

 explore, being so flat that there is much 

 standing water, especially in rainy 

 seasons, and roads, railroads, and settle- 

 ments are rather scarce. April is a 

 pretty good month to visit the region, 

 that being before the rainy season and 

 late enough for many flowers in that 

 latitude, though the number of flowers 

 increases as summer advances. One can 

 get a good view of it though from the 

 railroad running north and west from 

 Apalachicola, or can walk out from that 

 place or Port St. Joe or Wewahitchka 

 (the last being a river landing near the 

 Dead Lakes and remote from rail- 

 roads). R. M. Harper. 



The Apalachicola River endemics 



There is a colony of Torreya taxifolia, 

 together with a number of other endemic 

 and disjunct species along the bluffs 

 of the Apalachicola River between 

 Chattahoochee and Bristol. Are 

 well drained, but at the same time 

 thoroughly moist, because of the abun- 

 dant seepage water and the low evapora- 

 tion rates that prevail. Magnolia occurs 

 among the trees and scrub palmettos 

 in the undergrowth, are plentiful. 



Torreya grows all over the slopes of 

 the ravines, from stream-bank to rim, 

 wherever there is any shade. It is 

 mostly an undergrowth tree, seldom 

 reaching a height of more than 20 or 

 25 ft. or a trunk diameter of more than 

 6 in. Frank Thone. 



Everglades. A portion of the Ever- 

 glades is still in an almost natural 

 condition. This is particularly true 

 of the region lying southwest of Lake 

 Okeechobee where no drainage opera- 

 tions have been undertaken. The whole 

 region from Lake Okeechobee to the 

 south end of the state can be said to be 

 in a virgin condition. However, roads 

 and drainage ditches are now penetrat- 

 ing it. 



The Everglades can be reached (c) up 

 the canals from West Palm Beach, Fort 

 Lauderdale or Miami; by the Atlantic 



