TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



gray tresses. One of the most abundant low trees of the Miami river banks is 

 the cocoa-plum, Chrysobalanus pellocarpus G. F. W. Mey., with purple fruits 

 and orbicular, leathery leaves. The waxberry, Myrica (Cerothamnus) ceriferus 

 (L.) Small, is also common, while the lianes are Smilax laurifolia L., poison- 

 ivy, Toxicodendron (Rhus) radicans (L.) Kuntze, and bullace-grape, Muscadinia 

 (Vitis) Munsoniana (Simps.) Small. If the plants at the water's edge of the 

 hammock are included, then the most conspicuous of these plants are the 

 tall tropic fern, Acrostichum aureum L., the spider lily, Crinum americanum 

 L., and the shrub, Cephalanthus occidentalis L. The river plants proper will 

 be considered later (Plate VI, Fig. i). 



Somewhat similar hammocks were noted on crossing Little River, where 

 the live-oak trees of the forest were loaded with epiphytes, and on both sides of 

 Arch Creek. Between Ft. Myers and the mouth of the Caloosahatchee 

 River at Punta Rassa, my field notes indicate several noteworthy hammocks, 

 usually on the land projecting into the river, as the stream makes its curves 

 and rather open bends. Here the usual palmettos and live-oak trees loaded 

 with epiphytes were noted from the steamer. Such hammocks come down to 

 the river edge in some places, and in other places recede from the bank, which 

 is lined with marshes and mangrove swamps. Back of the river the hammock 

 vegetation blends in some places with the pine forest, in other places with 

 marsh land. The height of the land above the river level determines the loca- 

 tion of the several river-bank plant formations, whose location is determined 

 almost entirely by amount of soil water and other edaphic conditions. Pure 

 palmetto hammocks were noted, and in one place such a palmetto association 

 broke through the mangrove fringe until the roots of the palmettos exposed 

 by the washing away of the river bank were lapped by the water of the stream 

 (Plate II, Fig. 4). Such hammock land was noted on the north and south 

 banks of the Caloosahatchee River. 



Opposite Ft. Myers, on the north bank of the river, Hancock Creek enters. 

 This creek was followed for some distance inland by a motor boat. The 

 mouth of the creek is characterized by a small hammock situated on the sandy 

 bank of the river, back of which was salt marsh. The plants noted in this 

 small river hammock were Sabal palmetto (Walt.) R. & S., Spanish-bayonet, 

 Yucca aloifolia L., young live-oak trees, Quercus virginiana Mill., draped with 

 Florida-moss, golden-fig, Ficus aurea Nutt., sea-grape, Coccolobis uvifera (L.) 

 Jacq., a large prickly-pear, Opuntia sp., French-mulberry, Callicarpa americana 



