PREFACE V 



the Everglades, or by damp sloughs in periods of dry 

 weather. 



Royal Palm Hammock exhibits an interesting re- 

 versal of the normal phytogeographic conditions of 

 the region. On the Everglades Keys we have exten- 

 sive pinelands. These surround, here and there, 

 small areas of hammock growth. Royal Palm Ham- 

 mock is, as the word hammock means, a dense growth 

 of broad-leaved shrubs and trees; but, the wind dur- 

 ing hurricanes, or perhaps in less violent storms, 

 carried seeds from the pine trees growing in distant 

 pinelands, and dropped them in spots where the jungle 

 was less dense than that covering most of the area. 

 Thus, in open and otherwise favorable spots, pine- 

 trees have sprung up. Consequently here and there 

 we find areas of pineland in a hammock. These 

 areas of pine-woods are small, but they are charac- 

 eristic, and they even support a growth of the saw- 

 palmetto which is nearly always present in the pine- 

 woods on the Everglade Keys. The seeds of the lat- 

 ter plant were not, however, carried there by the 

 wind; but by animals, most likely by the bear, which 

 up to a few years ago was very abundant throughout 

 that region. 



Perhaps, if the surface of Royal Palm Hammock 

 had been slightly higher, and the surrounding Ever- 

 glades without wet sloughs and the natural protection 

 from prairie-fires thus wanting, the hammock would 

 long ago have been transformed into a pine island, 

 nearly or quite devoid of hammock. 



