174 



TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



attempted to define the difference and his classification of swamps is the best 

 that has been made, yet he has not clearly emphasized how the two terms 

 should be used to make them exact, as ecologic terms descriptive of vegetation. 

 It seems to the writer that the word swamp should be used for an area covered 

 by trees, or shrubs, and with a wet soil wholly or partially submerged with 

 water during the greater part of the year. According to this definition, we 

 have salt-water swamps (mangrove swamps) and freshwater swamps (tree 

 swamp, bush swamp, cedar swamp and cypress swamp). The word marsh 

 should be used for treeless, wet places in which sphagnum is not influential, 

 hence we have salt marsh and freshwater marsh, exclusive of bogs in which 

 sphagnum plays an important r61e. 



Helophytic 

 Formations 



Swamps (Wet Areas with 

 Trees, or Bushes). 



Marshes (Wet Treeless 

 Areas). 



Salt | Mangrove Swamp. 



f Cedar Swamp. 

 Fresh | River Swamp. 



I Cypress Swamp, etc. 



Salt Salt Marsh. 



Everglades. 

 River. 

 Sloughs, etc. 



Fresh 



With this distinction in view, the discussion which follows will deal with 

 the marshes, other than the Everglades, which according to our definition 

 above would be included in the category of marshes. 



River Marsh Formation. Along the rivers in South Florida, outside of 

 the river hammocks and growing along the shallow shores, we find a large 

 number of helophytes. Some of them are rooted, others are true aquatic 

 plants, and yet, both morphologic forms must be considered as belonging to 

 the marsh formation, because they are inseparably connected with each other 

 in the association. They contribute to the formation of the marsh muck and 

 they are concerned with the various phases of the successions. 



Along the banks of the Miami River (Plate VI, Fig. i) the marsh is well 

 developed as a distinct formation. In some parts of the stream, the arrow- 

 leaf, Sagittaria lancifolia L., forms pure associations (Sagittaria Association). 

 The saw-grass, Cladium effusum (Sw.) Torr. ( = Mariscus jamaicense (Crantz) 

 Britton), in an embayment of the river shore, forms an exclusive growth (Cla- 



