138 



up only an insignificant part of the total stand of timber, cer- 

 tainly less than i per cent. About 15 per cent, of the shrubs 

 belong to the Ericaceae and allied families. The only leguminous 

 plant abundant enough to be listed among the first 75 native 

 herbs is Falcata comosa, which constitutes about 4 per cent, of 

 the total herbage outside of the marshes. (The next in abund- 

 ance seems to be Meibomia nudiflora, which would come about 

 looth on the list.) The scarcity of members of this family is 

 probably due to the aversion of most of them to humus.* 



Cornus fiorida is evidently numerically the most abundant 

 tree, but it constitutes probably not more than 5 per cent, of the 

 total bulk of the forest, on account of its small size. It is about 

 five times as abundant as its nearest competitor among the small 

 trees. It would probably be hard to find a region of equal size 

 where Betiila lenta is more abundant than it is here. And it is 

 interesting to find Liquidamhar making up about 5 per cent, of 

 the total forest here within a few miles of its northern limit. f 

 The same might be said of Linodendron, except that that ranges 

 about 100 miles farther north. 



Although no figures are given here for the vines and shrubs, 

 the tvvo commonest vines are just about as abundant as the 

 two commonest shrubs. The abundance of vines indicates the 

 infrequency of fire, for as far as known to the writer all woody 

 vines are sensitive to fire.J The same thing is indicated by the 

 presence of several ferns, § and the abundance of herbs with 

 fleshy or barbed fruits, such as Vagnera, Arisaema, Unifolium, 

 Polygonatum, Smilax, Allium, Washingtonia, Circaea, Deringa, 

 Geum, and GaUum.\\ For such fruits normally remain on the 



* See Rep. Fla. Geol. Surv. 6: 177, 238, 301, 319, 1914; 7- 138-139. i74. 180. 



1915- 



t In Mississippi, which probably has more Liquidamhar than any other state, 

 it makes up only about 9 per cent, of the present forest of the state, according to 

 the writer's (unpublished) estimates. 



tSee Rep. Fla. Geol. Surv. 6: 227, 287, 318. 1914; 7: 167, i74, 176. I9i5- 



§ See Am. Fern Jour. 6: 76 (footnote). Sept. 1916. 



II For notes on the occurrence of fleshy and barbed fruits, but without special 

 reference to fire, see Davis, Rep. Mich. Geol. Surv. 1906: 165. 1907; Warming, 

 Oecology of Plants 88, 312. 1909; Harper, Bull. Torrey Club 31: 16. 1904; 

 Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 17: 49, 54, 61, 88, loi, 105. 1906. The comparative 

 scarcity of such fruits in prairies and pine-barrens, which are burned over every 

 few years, is quite noticeable. 



