TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 150 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



Piaropus crassipes (Mart.) Britton, water-lettuce, Pistia stratiotes L., and 

 pennywort, Hydrocotyle umbellata L. 



The shores of Lake Okeechobee are low and not well-defined. As the lake 

 rises, its waters inundate the flat country and the shore line recedes several 

 miles, so that the area of the lake is much larger at high than at low water. 

 The bed of the lake, except in the southern part, is a fine hard sand and pre- 

 sents a comparatively smooth and even bottom. The soundings disclose no 

 deep holes, or channels, and no rock is found except in the vicinity of Chancy 

 Bay. The lake has no tides, but its surface is quickly ruffled by the winds, and 

 it is not uncommon to find the water at least 30 decimeters (i foot) higher on 

 one side than on the other, due wholly to the influence of the wind pressure. 

 The water in the lake, when not agitated, is clean and wholesome, and is re- 

 garded by hunters and fishermen, who frequent the lake, as extremely health- 

 ful.* The lake had no well-defined outlet to the sea until within recent years, 

 but during the rainy season, its waters overflowed its banks from the mouth 

 of Fish-eating Creek on the west around the south side to a point on the east 

 several miles north of Pelican Bay, a distance of probably 112 kilometers. 

 With such a width of overflow, it matters not even now how hard it rains as 

 the level of the lake cannot rise above a level of 6.8 meters (22.5 feet). 



About 1884, a canal 21.3 meters (70 feet) wide and 1.8 meters (6 feet) 

 deep was completed from the Caloosahatchee River at Ft. Thompson up 

 through Lake Flirt, Bonnet Lake and Lake Hicpochee, making a direct and well- 

 defined channel in to Lake Okeechobee. Lyingnorth and west of Lake Okeecho- 

 bee is a watershed, seven and a half times as large as the lake. The drainage 

 area is comparatively level, having a gentle slope from the north toward the 

 south, and discharges all of its run-off into Lake Okeechobee. In the area 

 are lakes, the largest of which are Tohopekaliga, Kissimmee and Istokpoga. 

 During the rainy season, the rainfall not removed by evaporation is poured 

 down Fish-eating Creek, the Kissimmee River, Taylor Creek and along the 

 numerous sloughs and low depressions on the north into Lake Okeechobee. 



"The watershed drained by Lake Okeechobee, including the area of the 

 lake, is approximately 4,000,000 acres. There is no authentic record of the 

 rainfall in this area except at Kissimmee in the northern portion, so we must 

 assume that the rainfall at this station represents fairly accurately that of the 

 entire watershed. The average annual rainfall at Kissimmee for the past nine 

 *Everglades of Florida, Senate Document No. 89, 131. 1911. 



