TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 90 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



caribaea Morelet. South of Punta Gorda, Pinus caribaea Morelet becomes 

 more abundant and exclusive. 



The undergrowth in the slash-pine forests of the east coast and the west 

 coast exists in three, or four, layers. The second layer consists of shrubs and 

 low trees, none of them reaching to the lower branches of the dominant pine 

 trees. Hence the forest appears to be an unusually open one, because the view 

 is unobstructed by the bushes that in many denser forests close together and 

 fill up the spaces between the taller trees. The constituent elements of the 

 undergrowth vary from place to place. Along the east coast, although edaphic 

 conditions of the oolitic limestone soil are very similar, there is considerable 

 diversity in the typic shrubs of the pineland. When we contrast this with 

 the secondary plants of the west coast, we find a greater difference, although 

 the prevailing pine tree in both forests is the slash-pine, Pinus caribaea 

 Morelet.* Two low palms are found beneath the pine trees on the east coast. 

 They are, Serenoa serrulata (Michx.) Hook., the saw-palmetto, which with a long 

 thick surface-growing, or underground rhizome, either grows in circular clumps, 

 or else forms an extensive, almost exclusive, growth with leaves rising .6 to i 

 meter above the rocky soil surface. It is found in two forms, the glaucous- 

 leaved form and the form with bright-green leaves. It is less widely distrib- 

 uted on the west coast. Confined to the east coast is a low palm tree which first 

 makes its appearance about the Miami River. Here it grows about i .5 m. tall or 

 less. As the extreme southern portion of the pineland is approached it reaches 

 a greater height of 2 to 3 meters. It is the silver-palm, Coccothrinax argentea 

 (Lodd.) Sarg.,with silvery, flabellate leaf blades and purple-black drupaceous 

 fruits (Plate II, Fig. 3). On Big Pine Key and on the other Florida keys, in 

 the Bahamas, and in Cuba, it becomes a tree reaching a height of 8 meters. 

 Its low stature on the mainland may be due to its reaching the frost limit, while 

 on the islands where frosts are unknown and where ameliorating ocean breezes 

 blow, it grows to a much larger size. It is a handsome palm, whether low or 

 tall, and is a striking feature of the forest where found. It was not seen on the 

 west coast. 



The waxberry, Myrica cerifera L., was collected in the pine forest at 

 Miami and Ft. Myers. It is a round-headed shrub with dark-green, fragrant 



* In the accompanying description, the following letters will be used to designate the locality 

 where the plants mentioned in the description were collected by me. M. = Miami; H. = Home- 

 stead; S. = Samville; F. = Ft. Myers; S.F. = South of Ft. Myers. 



