TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 Oo 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



which sweep past the point. The poverty of the flora may be due to these 

 two conditions. 



Consultation of the phytogeographic map accompanying this mono- 

 graph will show that the silicious beaches in the restricted limits that we 

 have chosen for our survey south of the 27 30' N. latitude are limited in 

 number. They extend in front of Indian River to St. Lucie Inlet. From 

 the St. Lucie Inlet to Jupiter Inlet the true strand is separated in some 

 places from the mainland by a narrow channel of water connecting Indian 

 River with Jupiter River. In the neighborhood of Jupiter, high dunes 

 occur and the channel that stretches from Indian River to Lake Worth is 

 still more constricted in width. The sand strand extends on the seaward 

 side of Lake Worth as a narrow coastal island. The sandy foreshore from 

 Lake Worth to Hillsboro Inlet was originally united with the mainland, being 

 an integral part of it, but the coast survey map of 1911 shows a canal running 

 back of the whole length of this part of the coast. The same conditions exist 

 from Hillsboro Inlet to Ft. Lauderdale Inlet and from there to the head of 

 Bay Biscayne, where the quartz sand peninsula extends southward to Norris 

 Cut, opposite Miami. South of this are found two larger islands as Virginia 

 Key and Key Biscayne, the last of the barrier beaches of silicious sands. The 

 keys extending south to Key West have beaches of calcareous sand and belong to 

 another category. Their vegetation has not been investigated carefully by the 

 writer, and hence it is not included in this monograph. Presumably on the west 

 coast Anna Maria Key, Long Key, Sarasota Key, and Casey Key, as far south 

 as Casey Pass, have beaches of quartz sand similar to those of Sanibel Island. 

 From Casey Pass, to the head of Lemon Bay the sandy foreshore is a part of 

 the mainland. Then follow a number of elongated coastal islands, such as 

 Gasparilla Island, and others, as far as Boca Grande. In front of Pine Island 

 Sound and San Carlos Bay extend the chain of keys to which Sanibel Island 

 belongs, including Lacosta and Captiva islands. South of Punta Rassa on 

 the mainland the barrier beaches, including Estero Island, extend to Clam 

 Pass. The shore north and south of Naples is part of the mainland, then, 

 south of Gordon Pass, a series of costal islands are found that extend to Cape 

 Romano, which is the southern extremity of one of them. The coast line 

 from Cape Romano to Cape Sable is deeply embayed, or indented, and from 

 reliable sources I learn that the islands which fringe it are mainly mangrove 

 islands without sandy beaches until Cape Sable is reached. The immediate 



