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wet place, one's attention is attracted by a rather large scrag- 

 ulini^ plant with large yellow blossoms with four petals and a 

 long red calyx with short robes. The stems are reddish also. 

 One knows at oner that it is an evening primrose but what a 

 giant as compared with our northern forms. The willow-like 

 shape of its leaves helps to give it the common name, Primrose 

 Willow, Jussiaea peruviana. 



Hammock Vegetation 



Space does not allow me to attempt a description of the 

 hammock vegetation. It varies greatly in different parts of the 

 state. In the southern part, however, it is usually made up of 

 deciduous trees and shrubs with some palms of different species 

 interspersed. Ferns are often common and epiphytes of various 

 species are to be found. In origin many of the plants are tropical 

 or subtropical, coming largely from the West Indies. A de- 

 scription of this flora would require a large volume. 



Besides the two species of palms to which reference has 

 already been made, there are several other kinds, some of which 

 are of rather limited distribution. All along the coast of the 

 southern part of the peninsula and, to some extent, inland, the 

 Coconut, Cocos nucifera, is, perhaps, the most graceful and at- 

 tractive. In some places it forms groves of considerable size. 

 Its tall, somewhat sinuous trunk and its tuft of immense feather- 

 shaped leaves add the tropical touch so much desired. 



The Royal palm, Oreodoxa regia, is second only to the Coco- 

 nut in desirability and some give it first place. Many of these, 

 fifty feet tall, growing in the wilderness, have been dug up and 

 transported on huge trucks to hotel and exclusive club grounds 

 where they are planted and flourish. They grow ninety to one 

 hundred feet tall. Their massive light-gray trunks have a stately 

 columnar effect which is used to advantage on formal land- 

 scapes. In all there are about thirteen native species of palms 

 and one hundred and nineteen introduced forms. 



To one who has never visited a tropical coast the common 

 Mangrove, Rhizophora Mangle, is rather repelling at first. Its 

 thick masses of dark-green foliage; its habitat of black slimy 

 mud which is covered w r ith water at high tide; and the fact that 

 it hides the real shore line does not invite a close investigation. 

 Like some reticent people, however, it is full of interest on 



