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VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



important bearing on the consideration of the succession of vegetation types 

 in South Florida. 



SALT MARSH FORMATION 



True salt marshes, such as exist along the open bays and estuaries of the 

 North Atlantic coast of North America and of similar physiognomy, exist in 

 the southern coastal states according to the observations of the writer near 

 Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Jacksonville, and St. Aug- 

 ustine, Florida, where notes were made of the principal species of plants. It 

 was noted that Spartina stricta (Ait.) Roth ( = S. glabra Muhl.), as hi the 

 north, fringes the open channels, while as associated elements of this vegetation 

 we find Salicornia ambigua Michx., Atriplex hastata L., Distichlis spicata 

 (L.) Greene, and Baccharis halimifolia L. Such species as Juncus Roemerianus 

 Scheele, Batis maritima L., Iva frutescens L., and Borrichia frutescens (L.) 

 DC. are constituents. The rough map of the plant formations of the east 

 coast of Florida made as a result of three trips to the south indicates that salt 

 marshes of the usual type occur as far south as Cape Canaveral (opposite 

 Titusville) in latitude 28 30' North, and probably, although the notes do not 

 give any data, as far south as Indian River Inlet, 27 30' North. Such salt 

 marshes are north of the extreme northern limit of the red-mangrove, Rhizo- 

 phora mangle L., which, as previously intimated, ranges north to the St. Lucie 

 River in latitude 27 10' North. Indian River Inlet, therefore, represents ap- 

 proximately the southern limit of true salt marshes uninfluenced by man- 

 grove vegetation. 



The salt marshes of the west coast of southern Florida were noted after 

 passing Fort Ogden along the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor, where they 

 blend with the palmetto savannas in some localities and with pine savannas 

 in others. The most conspicuous elements of these salt marshes are Juncus 

 Roemerianus Scheele in pure association and the tall fern, Acrostichum aureum 

 L. The tension line between the typic salt marsh and the saw palmetto forma- 

 tion with a few scattered pines is a very sharp one. A difference of 30 centi- 

 meters in surface level is sufficient to alter the physiognomy of the vegetation 

 entirely. At Punta Gorda is found a pine savanna blending with the nearby salt 

 marsh formation. Similar salt marshes are found along Billy Creek near Ft. 

 Myers. Here the concave bend of the stream is occupied by mangrove vegeta- 

 tion, while across the creek the convex curve is characterized by a salt marsh, 



