TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 92 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



have that of Big Pine Key, one of the Lower keys, on which in similar oolitic 

 limestone as at Miami, according to the collections of Small, grow three palms 



* Coccothrinax argentea (Lodd.) Sarg., *Serenoa serrulata (Michx.) Hook and 

 Thrinax microcarpa Sarg., together with such plants as Smilax havanesis 

 Jacq., Pisonia rotundata Griseb., Cassia bahamensis Mill., Vachellia Farne- 

 siana (L.) Wright & Arn., Leucaena glauca (L.) Benth, * Icthyomethia pis- 

 cipula (L.) A. Hitchc., Croton linearis Jacq., * Byrsonima lucida (Sw.) DC., 



* Jacquinia keyensis Mez., Anamomis longipes (Berg.) Britton, Solanum Blod- 

 getii Chapm., Lantana odorata L., which represents L. involucrata L., L. 

 depressa Small of the mainland and * Ximenia americana L. 



The herbaceous third layer of the slash-pine forest includes such ferns as 

 Ornithopteris (Anemia) adiantifolia (L.) Bernh. (M., H. Big Pine Key), 

 Pteridium caudatum (L.) Maxon (M., H.), Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn 

 (F.) and Pteris longifolia L. (H.). The coontie, Zamia floridana DC. is a 

 cycadaceous plant extremely common in the Miami pineland (Plate IV), 

 where it was gathered by the Seminole Indians for the starch contained in its 

 fleshy, erect, subterranean stems, that penetrate into the pockets of limestone 

 soil. The plants with compound, spreading, pinnate leaves, resembling ferns 

 and palms, are dioecious. The staminate cones with scales bearing several 

 pollen sacs are deciduous. The ovulate cones with two, or more, ovules to 

 each scale persist until the seeds are ripe. The leafless parasite, Cassytha 

 filiformis L., stretches from herb to herb and binds them together with its 

 yellow, cord-like stems. The herbaceous plants, which are rarely over 60 to 

 80 centimeters tall form in some localities a complete cover to the forest floor 

 together with the plants of the fourth layer and the trailing, or prostrate, herbs, 

 such as: Dolicholus Michauxii Vail (M.) Euphorbia (Chamaesyce) deltoidea 

 Engelm (M.). In other places the ground flora is scattered, but in all cases, the 

 taller, stronger plants are almost invariably rooted in the small pockets of the 

 oolitic limestone. On the west coast, where the masses of limestone are 

 mantled by sand, a more even distribution of the herbs is possible. As the 

 number of perennial and annual herbs found in the pine forest is considerable, 

 they will be arranged in several columns and the most important species of 

 these lists will be considered as to their structure and the position that they 

 occupy in the slash-pine formation. These lists are based on plants collected 

 by the writer on three trips to South Florida and preserved in the herbaria of 



* Those found also in the slash-pine forest of the mainland according to my collections are 

 marked with an asterisk. 



