THE VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 
EXCLUSIVE OF THE KEYS 
OUTH FLORIDA may be said to comprise that part of the State 
S south of 27° 30’ north latitude, including the Florida keys. It 
represents the extreme subtropic portion of the peninsula, and is 
a region of very diverse character. It includes Lake Okeechobee, the 
Everglades and contiguous land masses within its confines. It is a 
country of low relief. In some places it is perfectly flat, in other places 
slightly rolling. There are no two maps of the region that agree in all 
essential geographic details. There are many districts south of Lake 
Okeechobee that are terra incognita to the scientific geographer. The 
coast line is irregular and in many places protected by islands, or 
keys, and mangrove swamps. It is approximately 257.44 km. (160 miles) 
from the northern parallel, 27° 30’, to the extreme southern end of the 
peninsula, excluding the Florida keys, which will be considered only 
incidentally in the following pages. The region is 235.26 km. (140 miles) 
from east to west. Geographically it includes the whole of Manatee, 
De Soto, Lee, Palm Beach, and Dade counties and parts of Osceola, St. Lucie 
and Monroe counties. The eastern coast is bathed by the Gulf Stream, which 
for two degrees of latitude, between 25° and 27° N., is contracted to a narrow 
strait between the Great Bahama Bank and southern peninsular Florida. The 
axis of the Gulf Stream is not over 41 kilometers (25 miles) off-shore in the 
middle of the Strait of Florida, which is not over 80 km. (50 miles) wide in its 
narrowest portions. Consequently, the shore line of the eastern part of Flor- 
ida along the Florida Strait is steep, the roo-fathom curve being only about 
three miles off-shore, while the 20-fathom curve is about 1.6 km. (1 mile) off- 
shore at Ft. Lauderdale, where the slope is the steepest. 
Indian River Inlet, which connects Indian River with the Atlantic 
Ocean, is almost exactly at 27° 30’ north latitude. Starting with that inlet, 
we find the Florida mainland protected, or fringed, by a series of barrier 
beaches separated from the peninsular land mass by elongated bays or 
lagoons. In fact, these islands, or bars, are merely the continuation of 
those along the coast, as far north as Long Island, New York. Along the At- 
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