194 
the Deering Hammock at Cutler. It.is that of a pond apple 
tree (Annona), but it appears far from the trunk of this. Either 
it encountered an obstruction or grew with such exceptional 
rapidity in one direction that it left the ground altogether and 
started up into the air. There it curved about, finally forming 
a cage-like structure fully a yard high and quite isolated from 
other shrubs or trees. (See accompanying plate.) 
The occurrence of the mangrove (Rhizophora Mangle) near 
Royal Palm Hammock! has already been recorded. Additional 
specimens have been found a short distance from the hammock. 
They are vigorous and are even spreading in spite of prairie fires. 
They grow in absolutely fresh water, being situated not only 
twelve miles from the Bay of Florida, but in a place where the 
superficial flow and the underground pressure of the water from 
the Everglades is directly against the possibility of the presence 
of salt water. 
On another day we made an excursion to Hammer Key, a high 
hammock island lying in the Everglades about fifteen miles 
southwest of Royal Palm Hammock. ‘To reach this we traversed 
a prairie on which both showy and inconspicuous orchids were 
plentiful—respectively, the grass pink (Limodorum) and ladies’- 
tresses (Ibidium). More conspicuous than all the other plants, 
however, was the yellow heliotrope (Heliotropium Leavenworthit) 
which grew by the acre, and with it were bright-red milkweeds 
(Asclepias), low milkworts (Polygala), marsh pinks (Sabbatia). 
diminutive bladderworts (Utricularia), and butterwort (Pingut- 
cula pumila). 
Nidway on our journey we crossed Burnt-Pine Island—a 
well-named locality, for there was nothing left of it but a ragged 
reef with some blackened poles standing here and there. This 
was once an outlying Everglade Key; but the prairie fires that 
are largely started by the mighty hunters that infest the region 
have wiped it off the map. Whatever broad-leaved shrubs and 
trees, not to mention herbaceous vegetation, that once clothed 
the island have been utterly destroyed, and except for the 
charred poles the area has reverted to mere everglade-prairie. 
‘R. M. Harper in The Florida Review 4: 154. 155. 1910. 
