193 
A day was devoted to Royal Palm Hammock and the adjacent 
Everglades. 
Here the custodian showed us a peculiar vine he had recently 
found. It was in both flower and fruit and proved to be a 
heliotrope-relative (Tournefortia hirsutissima). Thus Royal 
Palm Hammock becomes the second known locality in Florida 
for this tropical plant, Mr. Mosier and the writer having found 
the same plant several years ago—in leafage only, however—in 
the Timms Hammock in the Biscayne Pineland. It is a some- 
what woody and very vigorous grower, climbing into the tallest 
trees and copiously branching. It bears large clusters of rather 
small white or cream-colored flowers of a pleasing fragrance, 
which later develop into clusters of globular fruits. These fruits 
are from a quarter to a half-inch in diameter and resemble large 
pearls. | 
While on the subject of the Royal Palm Hammock, it may be 
remarked that both this and the Deering Hammock at Cutler 
exhibit an exceptionally large number of what might be called 
“stilted”? trees-——that is to say, trees, either small or large, the 
trunks of which are elevated on a conoidal structure of exposed 
roots. The reasons for this are local. 
It appears that when the tree starts as a seedling the roots of 
necessity spread out horizontally, or nearly so, in the almost 
pure humus which takes the place of soil over the rough rock 
floor of the hammocks, and that some of the main roots grow 
close to or against the rock. Now, under favorable conditions 
of temperature and moisture, it would appear that these roots 
grow too fast to adjust themselves to the subsurface irregularities, 
as they naturally would in ordinary soil. Hence the pressure 
against the obstructing rock causes the trunk to be pushed up 
vertically. The process continues. The carly roots put out 
branches and new roots are formed, and these gradually elevate 
the base of the trunk, sometimes to a height of two or threc feet. 
Incidentally, the cage-like structures with sides at an angle of 
45°, which are thus formed by the exposed roots, are extensively 
used as houses by rodents. (See accompanying plate.) 
In this connection, there is one remarkably fantastic root in 
