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mainland. Our route lay on the western side of the lagoons, the 
larger ones of which are Bay Biscayne, Saint Lucie Sound, 
Indian River, Halifax River, Banana River, and Mosquito 
Lagoon. 
The waters of the lagoons are salt, brackish, or nearly fresh, 
depending upon the feeders, the inlets from the ocean, and the 
tide. Their plant life is usually not conspicuous, but it is often 
abundant. The principal plants are submerged, ditch-grass 
(Ruppia), horned pondweed (Zannichellia), naiad (Natas), partly 
emersed pondweed (Potamogeton), and arrowhead (Sagittaria). 
The most conspicuous plant is the cat-tail (Typha), which often 
grows luxuriantly and tall. 
The active dunes, which result from the wind-shifted sands 
of the barrier beaches, extend as a comparatively narrow strip 
along most of the eastern coast. They are partly clothed with 
hammock, both open and dense, the growth ranging from knee- 
high in exposed wind-swept places to tall forest trees in more 
sheltered places. Besides the hard-wood trees and shrubs, prac- 
tically all of which are evergreen, there is often a copious 
growth of palms, particularly the cabbage tree (Sabal Palmetto), 
saw palmetto (Serenoa serrulaia), and at the southern end of the 
dunes the silver palm (Ceccothrinax argentea). Two cycads, 
the so-called coontie or comptie, occur on the dunes. On those 
of the northern portion we find Zamia pumila, while at the south- 
ern end is Zantia floridana. Of course there is, as well, an ex- 
tensive herbaceous flora: 
On the western side of the lagoons we find principally pine- 
woods, “serub,” and hammock. These three plant formations 
abut, for varying distances, directly on the water, except near 
the southern part of the region, where in some places there are 
extensive marshes between the higher land and the lagoons 
proper. In the southern portion, too, the land is quite low and 
we find tropical shrubs and trees in abundance. At the extreme 
southern end on the mainland, as well as on the dunes, we have 
extensive growth of the red mangrove. On the higher land, for 
example the Brickell Hammock at Miami and the Deering Ham- 
mock at Cutler, we have an almost pure growth of typically 
