vi PREFACE 



The vegetation, both herbaceous and woody, has 

 had nearly uninterrupted growth for ages. This con- 

 dition, perhaps, accounts for the continued presence 

 of the royal-palms. The decaying leaves, the large 

 inflorescences, and the fruits, falling at the very base 

 of the palm, on account of the unbranched trunk, 

 form mounds of humus larger and higher than do any 

 of the hardwood trees with their widely spreading 

 branches. Upon such a gradually increasing mound 

 a gigantic palm, is, from year to year, raised higher 

 and higher on humus formed from its own tissues. 

 These mounds of humus would furnish ideal fuel, 

 and the palm, although able to resist fire above the 

 roots, could not exist, or even stand up, if the humus 

 were burned away. As it is, it seems nothing short 

 of a miracle that the slender trunks over one hundred 

 feet tall with the massive crown of leaves and spadices 

 can withstand the winds of ordinary storms, not to 

 mention hurricanes. 



The accumulated mass of decaying vegetable matter 

 and the humus from both the palms and the broad- 

 leaved shrubs and trees forms the foundation for a 

 remarkably luxuriant growth of ferns, shrubs and 

 trees. Herbaceous flowering plants are only slightly 

 represented. 



Botanical exploration up to 1918 has revealed about 

 two hundred and fifty kinds of plants growing nat- 

 urally on the key. Sixty-odd of these are flowerless 

 plants, viz.: mushrooms 18, lichens 6, liverworts 13, 

 mosses 11, and ferns 15. The remaining one hundred 



