232 VEGETATION 



of Agaves. In one such banana-hole, about 30 feet across, grew Anona palus- 

 tris L. (Custard-apple), Ficus sapotifolia Kunth & Benche, Picramnia pen- 

 tandra Sw. (Snake root), here 15 feet in height Psyclwtria undata Jacq. and 

 Cladium effusum Torr. Attached to the sides of the depression, beneath its 

 overhanging edges, flourished Adiantum melanolucum Willd., Odontosoria 

 clavata Sw., and other ferns. 



POWELLS POINT, ELEUTHERA. 



The beach at this point is sandy, with rocks projecting at intervals. Be- 

 hind the beach is a slightly elevated, sandy plain, which extends for about 

 100 yards and is then interrupted by an extensive mangrove marsh. At one 

 end of this marsh, where the water is shallow, there was a dense, almost pure 

 growth of Eleocharis cellulosa Torr., which occupies an area of about 100 by 50 

 yards and is unbroken except for occasional clumps of mangrove. This was 

 the first time we had noticed this sedge, but it was found again in a similar 

 situation at Arthurs Town, Cat Island. On the hills behind the swamp 

 mahogany and mastic were conspicuous. 



In the sandy plain, above mentioned, grew a number of small specimens of 

 the Cyclospathe nortJiropi Cook (Hog-cabbage palm), here first seen. Along 

 the shore, just behind the usual beach plants, was a dense thicket, the outer 

 face of which was sheared by the wind into a slope leading from the ground 

 to a height of about 6 feet. The most noticeable peculiarity of this coppice 

 was the grouping of its different plants into almost pure association, which 

 followed each other not from without inward, but along the beach. A pure 

 growth of Reynosia septentrionalis Urban (Darling plum) would be suc- 

 ceeded by an equally pure growth of Pithecolobium keyense Britton (Ram's 

 horn) ; this by Acacia choriophylla Benth. (Cinnecord), and this by Eugenia 

 buzifolia (Sw.) Willd. The area occupied by each was sometimes as much as 

 20 feet. This was the only place in the Bahama Islands where we found 

 coppice plants of a single species forming clumps of any extent uninterrupted 

 by other forms. In fact, the mixed character of tropical vegetation and the 

 almost entire absence of extensive bodies of single species, is one of the most 

 striking and remarkable differences that it -presents to our temperate growth. 

 The conspicuousness of this characteristic is well shown by the giving of the 

 name " Family Wood " to Coccolobis Jcrugii Lindau in Watlings Island because 

 it occasionally forms small areas without admixture with other plants. As one 

 passes through a typical Bahama coppice, different plants are met with at every 



