Flatwoods 

 and Everglades 



Peninsular Florida 



The peninsula of Florida, although today the principal human 

 playground on this continent, grows a very large part of the 

 citrus crop and includes huge farmed areas, valuable mines, and 

 timberlands. It is also, though few people seem to realize the 

 fact, one of the foremost cattle-raising states. But it still contains 

 extensive wild areas. Despite the fact that a hump a hundred 

 feet above sea level is regarded here as a mountain, it is a most 

 varied land, and it remains a paradise for the naturalist in 

 whatever department he may be most interested. The peninsula 

 itself may be divided into three parts — a northern that is clothed 

 in the open pine forests typical of the great Southern Pine Belt; 

 a central that is basically grassland and represents the easterly 

 extension of the Prairie Belt; and a southern, covered mostly by 

 swamps, that represents a tag end of the Northern Scrub Belt. 

 The peninsula has an underlying backbone composed of lime- 

 stone, which reaches the surface in a boomerang-shaped ridge 

 starting in the panhandle of the state and curving down through 

 the middle of the northern or upper third of the peninsula. This 

 formation, which has some fascinating features, as we shall see, 

 then subsides under the more recent deposits that form the main 



O/ Die two species of true alligators, this one is found in the 

 Gulf states and the other in the Yangtze River. Right: Some 

 plants of subtropical appearance, such as these broad-leafed 

 Thalia, grow in the vast Florida cypress swamps. 





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