TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 164 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



(Text Fig. 2). The depth varies with the conformation of the bottom. The 

 whole area is covered with a rank growth of a coarse sedge, 2 to 3 meters (8 or 

 10 feet) high, having leaves with a fine, serrated edge like a saw, hence 

 the common name (Plate VII, Fig. 2). The saw-grass, Cladium effusum 

 (Sw.) Torr. ( = Mariscus jamaicensis (Crantz) Britton), arises from a root- 

 stock with matted roots. In many portions of the Everglades, the saw- 

 grass is so thick as to be almost impenetrable; but it is intersected by 

 tortuous channels terminating at short or long distances in apparently im- 

 penetrable barriers of grass. The surface is rapidly changed with rain, the 

 difference of level being from 6 decimeters to i meter (2 to 3 feet). E. W. 

 Chadwick, who as a surveyor crossed the Everglades before the canals were 

 dug, in a letter to the writer dated March 22, 1911, mentioned a wide, dry ridge 

 in the center of the Glades. He mentioned the saw-grass ridges alternating 

 with open leads of water running approximately in a southeastern direction. 

 Such are probably the ridges described by Willoughby (Across the Everglades, 

 page no), who states that when the rock is near the surface with little soil, 

 the saw-grass grows to a height of about 1.2 meters (4 feet), but where the soil 

 is deeper and wetter, it reaches a height of 3 meters (10 feet). Similar ridges 

 are noted in the writer's description of a transsection of the Everglades along 

 the North New River Canal. 



The vegetation of the Everglades was studied by the writer on four differ- 

 ent trips into them. One visit was made out from West Palm Beach, two 

 by ascending the Miami River, and a fourth by crossing the entire region from 

 Lake Okeechobee, a distance of 100 kilometers (62 miles), by the North 

 New River Canal to Ft. Lauderdale. The botanic results of these trips are 

 given herewith. Back of West Palm Beach the saw-grass marsh connects 

 with the Loxahatchee Marsh, which is an integral part of the Everglades. 

 The saw-grass marshes here alternate with lake vegetation about Lake Clear 

 with cypress bays, prairies, and pineland. The prevaih'ng plant is the saw- 

 grass, scattered through which are a few isolated palmettos, Sabal palmetto 

 (Walt.) R. & S. The open lagoons of water (Plate VIII, Fig. i) were char- 

 acterized by the water-lily, Castalia odorata (Dryand.) Woodr., associated 

 with Sagittaria lancifolia L., pickerel-weed, Pontederia cordataL., and pond- 

 weed, Potamogeton sp. The water-lilies, pickerel-weed, etc., usually grew in 

 pure associations with little intermixture of other species and their distribution 



