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VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



receives elements from the pine forest in the presence of low shrubby oaks and 

 the saw-palmetto, Serenoa serrulata (Michx.) Hook., which is most common in 

 the variety with glaucous leaves, giving heightened effect to the prevailing 

 grayish-green color of the forest. Where the live-oak disappears, or reaches 

 only the size of a tall shrub, we have a facies of this formation which may be 

 termed the low oak-saw-palmetto sclerophyllous scrub. At a number of lo- 

 calities on the Caloosahatchee River, as enumerated above, this scrub, or 

 chaparral, is seen, and perhaps in the denser types, it is similar to the maqui 

 of the Mediterranean region. The oak-palmetto hammock is of general 

 interest, because it is a type of forest known as sclerophyllous. The term 

 sclerophyllous was first employed by Schimper for a xerophytic bushland, or 

 bush forest, in subtropic regions,* such as South Florida, the Mediterranean 

 countries, California, parts of Cape Colony and parts of West and South 

 Australia. The trees have gnarled and twisted branches. They are evergreen 

 and show various obvious features to meet the conditions which are not so 

 severe as those of desert plants. None of the true tree species of the Caloosa- 

 hatchee sclerophyllous forest become shrubs, because plentifully supplied with 

 ground water, so that it resembles in physiognomy and ecologic constitution 

 the Mediterranean oak forests rather than the Mediterranean garigues, or 

 maquis. A low forest of evergreen oaks in Mediterranean countries grows 

 on dry soil. As the orange, Citrus aurantium L., the carob, Ceratonia siliqua 

 L., olive, Olea europaea L., are Mediterranean trees, the physiognomy and 

 ecologic character of the Mediterranean forest suggest the advisability of 

 planting the orange in situations where the vegetation, even if of entirely dis- 

 tinct species, yet shows similar peculiarities of sclerophylly. In matching 

 vegetation and climates, we find such to be the character of the sclerophyllous 

 forests between Caloosa and Denaud on the Caloosahatchee River, but the 

 uncertain factor is the occasional inundation of the country during periods of 

 excessive rain. With the control of the flood waters, this district, as far as 

 the native vegetation serves as an index, ought to be one of the finest orange- 

 growing regions in the world, for the whole aspect of the forest, with evergreen 

 live-oaks draped with Florida-moss, with saw-palmettos, shrubby oaks and 

 other xerophytic shrubs, suggests the Mediterranean sclerophyllous vegetation. 

 Where the saw-palmetto becomes the prevailing growth, this formation 



* Typic sclerophyllous plants are found in regions with winter rains and dry summers; in 

 contrast, Florida has wet summers and dry winters. 



