6C. EUTAW BELT. 



83 



LIST OF TREES— Continued. 



About 39% of the trees in the original forests were 

 evergreen, a somewhat smaller proportion than in the 

 other parts of the central pine belt, as might have been 

 expected from the richer soil. There are two interesting 

 trees in this belt which are not found in any of those 

 previously described, namely the spruce pine, Pin us gla- 

 bra, and the magnolia, Maf/iioUa f/raiidiflora. Both are 

 very characteristic of hammocks* nearer the coast, and 



*"Hammock" is a geographical term used only in the coastal 

 plain (more in Florida than anywhere else) to designate a dense 

 stand of trees other than pines, growing in comparatively dry soil 

 (and thus distinguished from a swamp) in a region where open 

 grassy pine forests predominate. Most hammocks are shady and 

 have some natural protection against fire on one or more sides, 

 and therefore contain considerable humus. (See Ann. Rep. Fla. 

 Geol. Surv. 3:217; Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 38:515-525. 1911.) 



The word has also been spelled hamak, hommock and hummock; 

 the last-named form, which may have originated in a mere typo- 

 graphical error, having caused a great deal of misunderstanding. 

 (See Science 11.22:400-402. Sept. 29, 1905. Its use in Dr. Smith's 

 two contributions to the 6th volume of the Tenth Census was prob- 

 ably due to the interference of some editor in Washington.) The 

 matter has however been set right in "Webster's New Interna- 

 tional Dictionary," 1909, and other dictionaries will probably fall 

 into line sooner or later. 



