65 



During the present century very little collecting has been 

 done in this region, but its botanical possibilities are by no 

 means exhausted. 



In the southern part of Lake County, especially just west of 

 Lake Apopka, is an area of several square miles characterized by 

 high sandy hills, sometimes known as mountains,* which Mr. 

 Nash never saw. Like most other parts of the lake region, this 

 area is dotted with small lakes, and contains no streams or 

 valleys, and rocks are conspicuous by their absence. The hills 

 under consideration differ from other hills of the region chiefly 

 in being higher and steeper, the summits of some of them being 

 perhaps 150 feet above the lakes at their bases. They are 

 believed by some people to be the highest elevations in Florida, 

 but their altitudes above sea-level have probably never been 

 accurately determined. The vegetation of these hills is uniformly 

 of the "high pine land" type described by Mr. Nash in the paper 

 cited, with the addition of a few species more characteristic of 

 the "scrub," such as Ceratiola and Selaginella, and a few very 

 local species such as Polygala Lewtonii and the shrub presently 

 to be described. The forests have scarcely been touched by 

 civilization, the greater part of them not even having experienced 

 the ravages of the turpentine industry. 



On Feb. 19, 1909, just before dark, I first saw these hills from 

 a train on the Tavares & Gulf R. R., which winds about their 

 bases close to Lake Apopka for several miles, and is probably 

 the crookedest railroad in Florida. The next day I walked 

 southward on this railroad from Tavares, the county-seat of 

 Lake County, and reached the northern edge of the hills about 

 ten miles from Tavares and five or six from West Apopka. 

 Almost immediately upon entering the hill country my attention 

 was attracted to some low diffusely branched plum bushes, 

 some of them in full bloom and leafless, and others a little more 

 advanced, with very young leaves and fruit. The bushes were 

 not more than two feet tall, on the average, and about the same 

 in diameter, with branches exceedingly numerous, decidedly 



*The most comprehensive description of these hills that I know of, and the one 

 which first called my attention to them, is in Tenth Census U. S. 6: 237. 1884. 



