FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



Inside of the barrier beaches and between them and the mainland 

 are shallow lagoons, or bays, which are gradually filled with sand blown 

 over the beaches, or by accumulations of organic material derived from 

 salt marsh vegetation, or from that collected by the roots of the red-man- 

 grove, which in some places is an important agent in land building. In 

 Florida, these lagoons are designated rivers if they are narrow and long, 

 or lakes, bays, or sounds, if they are short and broad. The geographic se- 

 quence of such lagoons along the east coast of Florida south of 27 30' north 

 latitude is as follows: Indian River (St. Lucie Sound), Jupiter River, Lake 

 Worth, Boca Ratonas Lagoon, Hillsboro River, New River Sound, Dumfound- 

 ling Bay, Biscayne Bay, Cards Sound, Barnes Sound. A number of important, 

 but short, rivers that take their rise in the Everglades flow east and empty into 

 these land-locked sounds. They are, proceeding from north to south: St. 

 Lucie River, Jupiter River, Hillsboro River, Cypress Creek, New River 

 (with its several branches), Snake Creek, Arch Creek, Little River, Miami 

 River, Snapper Creek, Black Pool Creek, and Chis Cut. 



The high ground of the east coast of Florida is a narrow strip between 

 the ocean and the Everglades. This region is formed of Palm Beach lime- 

 stone, a light-colored, hard to friable limestone extending from St. Lucie River 

 south to Delray and covered near the coast with loose wind-blown sand that 

 rises into hills of considerable height. From Delray south to Homestead, and 

 including the Everglade keys west of that place, the underlying rock is Miami 

 limestone, while a tongue of Pleistocene and Recent sand extends along Jup- 

 iter River, Lake Worth and along shore to the Hillsboro River. The country 

 between Lake Okeechobee and the coast, as indicated on the map, is one 

 characterized by numerous small lakes of fresh water that have no outlet and 

 that are not connected with each other. This geographic region will be dis- 

 cussed more fully under the heading of geology. 



Lake Okeechobee is an irregular body of fresh water, about 36 miles long 

 from north to south and about 30 miles wide from east to west and ranges in 

 depth from about four to twenty feet.* A number of wooded islands are 

 found at the south end of the lake. These have been named Observation, Rita, 

 Kreamer and Torry islands. A number of streams empty into the lake. The 

 principal are Taylor Creek, Kissimmee River, and Fisheating Creek. The 



* Heilprin, Angela: Explorations on the West Coast of Florida and in the Okeechobee Wil- 

 derness. Transactions Wagner Free Institute of Science, Vol. i, Philadelphia, 1887. 



