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VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 
shore line of Northwest Cape, Middle Cape, and East Cape (Cape Sable) are 
sandy. The south coast of Florida touching the Bay of Florida is fringed with 
mangrove swamps as far as Biscayne Bay. The description of the vegeta- 
tion of Ocean Beach (Fairyland) on the east coast and of the beaches at Punta 
Rassa and Sanibel Island on the west coast may be taken as samples of the 
character of the vegetation of the sandy beaches on the east and west coasts 
of the southern end of the Florida peninsula respectively. The same may be 
said of the strand thicket vegetation of both coasts now to be described in 
detail. 
Dune Formation.—The crest of the low frontal dunes on Anastasia Island 
is characterized by clumps of Yucca aloifolia L. mixed with densely massed 
evergreen bushes of Ilex vomitoria Ait. and other shrubs. The seaside morn- 
ing-glory, Ipomcea реѕ-саргге, is a dune crest plant, as is also Croton puncta- 
tus Jacq., the prickly-ash, Xanthoxylum clava-Herculis L., the saw-palmetto, 
Serenoa serrulata (Michx.) Hook. and Solidago sempervirens. The hollows 
of the dense complex are occupied by masses of Yucca aloifolia L., Ilex vom- 
itoria Ait., waxberry, Myrica cerifera L. [Cerothamnus ceriferus (L.) Small]. 
Isolated, partially prostrate, trees of the red-cedar, Juniperus (Sabina) vir- 
giniana L., are found. The seaside-oats, Uniola paniculata L., is common as a 
binder of the sands. The greenbriar clambers over the clumps of waxberry 
and Spanish-bayonets. The prickly-pear cactus, Opuntia austrina, Small, 
rises a foot above the surface of the dunes. A small rounded dune, as a 
relic of the dune complex, was left in a flat, featureless plain of sand be- 
cause its top was protected by the Spanish-bayonet, Yucca aloifolia L., 
Myrica cerifera L., elderberry, Sambucus canadensis L., and Baccharis halimi- 
folia L. 
The dune complex at Ormond is covered with a thicket, but in front the 
frontal dune is highly elevated and cut by the wind into stretches of dunes, 
broken by depressions. Here grow dense masses of saw-palmetto, Serenoa 
serrulata (Michx.) Hook. (glaucous form), between which is the ever-present 
grass, Uniola paniculata L. Low, wind-swept trees of live oak, Quercus vir- 
giniana Mill, red-bay, Persea borbonia (L.) Spreng., waxberry, Myrica cerifera 
L., saffron-plum, Bumelia angustifolia Nutt., show the effect of strong winds 
on tree and shrub forms. In the spaces between the trees were found nearly a 
dozen specimens of a fleshy fungus, Clathrus sp., with a vile odor, suggesting 
its local names, “dead man's fingers," *buzzard's nose." Solidago semper- 
