FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE , 



103 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



The stations at Ft. Myers and at Jupiter are both north of the main body 

 of the Everglades, and no doubt show from 2 to 4 lower temperature than 

 would be registered in the center of the 'Glades. The minimum temperature 

 here is higher than that of the sugar district in Louisiana south of New Or- 

 leans, where cane is seldom injured by frost. 



The two preceding tables give the records of the rainfall at Kissimmee, 

 in the northern part of the water-shed, and at Jupiter, on the east coast 

 opposite Lake Okeechobee, for a period of nine years, and represent fairly well 

 the rainfall that may be anticipated in the Everglades: 



The average annual rainfall of the Everglades portion of the State is about 

 63 inches (160 cm.). The so-called dry season, or portion of the year in which 

 there is the least rainfall, occurs between the months of November and March, 

 during which time the normal precipitation is about 11.5 inches (29 cm.), 

 ranging from i .5 to 2.5 inches (4-7 cm.) per month. During this season portions 

 of the prairie lands are planted to vegetables, principally tomatoes, which are 

 more profitable for shipping to the northern market, and when properly fertilized 

 produce large crops. The remainder of the year these lands are frequently 

 covered with water and are largely abandoned until the opening of the winter 

 season, when they are again plowed and planted. 



Vegetation of the Everglades (Plate VII, Fig. 2; Plate VIII, Fig. i). The 

 Everglades is a vast saw-grass marsh, or perhaps we may call it a wet 

 prairie, extending in unbroken formation in all directions to the horizon, or 

 sky line, as out at sea. The Everglades, the location of which is shown on 

 the map, is a sea of the sedge, or saw-grass, which is the dominant plant over 

 an immense area. It will be noted that the Everglades vegetation almost com- 

 pletely surrounds Lake Okeechobee. It sends a long extension northwestward 

 back of West Palm Beach through the Loxahatchee Marsh to join Jupiter 

 River, which finds its way to the Atlantic Ocean through Jupiter Inlet. The 

 Glades back of West Palm Beach are thus connected with one of the principal 

 drainage channels leading from the central part of the Everglades. On the 

 south, the Everglades blend with the coastal prairie, and in the southwest, they 

 almost reach the Gulf of Mexico. A deep embayment of the Everglades along 

 their western border is found projecting westward, so as to join the area of 

 lowland covered by the Big Cypress Swamp, and another extension projects, 

 so as to include Lake Hicpochee. Upon the muck rests a sheet of water 



