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149 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



Panicum hemitomon Schult., a tall grass (6-12 dm. tall) from stout rootstocks. 

 A vine, Ampelopsis arborea (L.) Rusby ( = Cissus bipinnata (Michx.) Nutt.), 

 climbs up the maiden-cane. Back on the right is a hammock with tall pine 

 forest in the rear. The reed marsh at the east end of Lake Flirt is followed 

 along the canal by willow thickets which fringe that evasive body of water 

 called Bonnet Lake. The water-lettuce, Pistia stratiotes L., was floating on 

 the surface of Lake Flirt, as also the water-hyacinth, Piaropus crassipes 

 (Mart.) Britton, which in dense masses (Plate IX, Fig. 2) was anchored be- 

 tween the clumps of willows. 



Lake Hicpochee is a large lake with a basin like a soup plate, surrounded 

 by saw-grass marsh. Along the north border of the lake were associations of 

 bonnets, Nymphaea (Nuphar) advena Soland, associated with the pondweed, 

 Potamogeton sp. The border of the lake is flat with a green rim of low plants 

 which along the east shore of the lake consisted of the tall fern, Acrostichum 

 aureum L., saw-grass, Cladium effusum (Sw.) Torr. ( = Mariscus jamaicense 

 Crantz), Britt. Sagittaria lancifolia L., and the herbs Kosteletzkya altheaei- 

 folia (Chapm.) A. Gray in flower (June 21), Hibiscus grandiflorus Michx., 

 and Pluchea purpurascens (Sw.) DC. Scattered along the shores of the lake 

 were noted low custard-apple trees, Annona glabra L., willows, Salix sp., 

 waxberry, Myrica (Cerothamnus) ceriferus (L.) Small, elder, Sambucus 

 canadensis L. Over these shrubs climbed a vine, Ampelopsis arborea (L.) 

 Rusby, and a moon-flower, Calonyction aculeatum (L.) House. The water- 

 lettuce, Pistia stratiotes L., floated on the surface of the lake in extensive rafts. 



Lake Okeechobee. Lake Okeechobee is a beautiful body of clear water 

 almost circular in shape and about 48 kilometers (30 miles) across, and is the 

 largest freshwater lake wholly within the United States except Lake Michi- 

 gan. At mean level it covers an area of 189,751 hectares (468,860 acres). 

 At the high stage, its surface is about 6.8 meters (22.5 feet) above tide level 

 and at low water, 5.7 meters (19 feet). The lake is quite shallow, the deepest 

 places not exceeding 6 to 7 meters at low water and the average depth is 3.657 

 meters (12 feet). It shows several islands at the southern end, viz., Observa- 

 tion, Rita, Torry and Kreamer. Torry Island is covered with hammocks, acres 

 in extent, surrounded by dense growths of custard-apple trees with curiously 

 buttressed or branched trunks. Access to this island is made difficult by ex- 

 tensive liquid mud flats which surround it and in which grow the maiden-cane, 

 Panicum hemitomon Schult., bulrush, Scirpus validus Vahl., water-hyacinth, 



