iv PREFACE 



prairie for a distance of more than ten miles. It 

 lies a little south of the main axis of the Everglade 

 keys, and is called Royal Palm Hammock. 1 The 

 island received its name from the most conspicuous 

 element of the vegetation, this consisting of scores of 

 royal-palms, many of which tower above the tops of 

 the other forest trees. 



When settlers entered southern Florida in the latter 

 half of the last century, the Seminole Indians told 

 them of an island far away in the Everglades with 

 large palms growing on it. However, as far as we 

 know, it was not visited by the white man until 1882, 

 and after that date not again until 1893. It was 

 not \\ui\\ about the beginning of 1904 that the botan- 

 ical exploration of the island and the contiguous 

 region was undertaken. 2 



Royal Palm Hammock is nowhere duplicated. It 

 is quite different from the high pineland and the low 

 pineland hammocks of the Everglade Keys. It is an 

 Everglade hammock, but it is much the largest one 

 of all. It differs from the others not only in size, 

 but also in the relatively high rock floor which sup- 

 ports a more extensive and varied flora than is found 

 on the other islands of this kind. The hammock has 

 been protected from fire by the surrounding water in 



*A hammock the word probably of Indian origin Is a 

 dense growth of mostly broad-leaved shrubs and trees, thus 

 giving shade, in a pine forest or on a pratrie. The use of 

 the word is confined mostly to Florida and adjacent states. 

 It was formerly confused with the word hummock. 



3 For a more complete history of the hammock see Jour- 

 nal of the New York Botanical Garden 17 : 165-172. 



