IN FLORIDA 8l 



It came down to the low land near an artificial pool and up by 

 another. So thick was the undergrowth in many places that I 

 could not crawl through it and I had difficulty, first in locating 

 the interesting things and afterwards in finding them. At one 

 place not far from a large palmetto I made a turn in the walk, 

 then I trimmed out the vegetation between the angle and the 

 tree, and placed a rustic seat there so that one could sit and gaze 

 at the glorious head of foliage. 



Here and there along the walk and in secluded nooks I have 

 planted shade-loving palms and other plants. A number of 

 trees and shrubs belonging in the lower part of the state but which 

 do not grow wild in this hammock have been introduced and 

 established as I fear that they may soon be exterminated else- 

 where. Many of the larger trees, especially the live oaks, are 

 loaded with wild epiphytes, Tillandsias, Peperomias, Orchids and 

 various ferns almost to the breaking point and among these I 

 have planted numbers of exotic species which are generally doing 

 well and becoming a part of the general air garden. The common 

 sword or Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata), which is found grow- 

 ing all over the warmer parts of the world, has made itself com- 

 pletely at home here and in places is carpeting the ground. It 

 has established itself in the tops of the palmettos, growing among 

 the decaying leaf stalks. A nearly related species which is native 

 elsewhere in this region is working in on rotting logs in the lower 

 hammock. Phlebodium aureum, a strong-growing fern, lives 

 along with the sword fern and the lovely grass fern also hangs 

 down from the tops of the palmettos. The creeping Polypodium 

 (P. polypodioides) covers the trunks and branches of the live 

 oaks, drying up during dry weather until the fronds sometimes 

 become so crisp that they break off, but turning green and com- 

 mencing growth at once when rains come. Campyloneuron 

 phylliditis, without any common name, grows on decaying logs 

 and has long, strap-shaped, elegant fronds. I have brought in 

 from hammocks elsewhere the beautiful Asplenium serratum, 

 which somewhat resembles the foregoing, and established it in 

 damp places. Here and there I have put sword ferns and Phle- 

 bodiums on the cabbage palmettos just at the base of the crown 



