TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 
O 
7 VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 
virens L. and Chamecrista brachiata Pol. enliven the dunes with the color of 
their flowers. 
The low elevation above the upper beach at Fairyland, opposite Miami, 
may be termed a dune for want of a better name, but here it has been changed 
greatly by the planting of a row of tall cocoanut trees, Cocos nucifera L. The 
dune complex consists of a flat, slightly undulated surface of quartz sand, 
which extends clear across the peninsula to the edge of the mangrove forma- 
tion which fringes the shore of the Bay Biscayne. The low trees, shrubs, and 
herbs of this area are in places widely spaced with sandy hollows and flat 
sandy intervals between the plants, while in other places the shrubs close to- 
gether to form a low thicket. 
Low, rounded palms, Serenoa serrulata (Michx.) Hook., are either isolated 
or they are found forming a tangled covering to hillocks of sand. The saw- 
palmetto frequently is found in the form with silvered, or glaucous leaves as 
well as the form with bright-green leaves. Another common shrub of the 
dune complex with plum-like, edible fruit is the cocoa-plum, Chrysobalanus 
icaco L. The seaside-grape, Coccolobis uvifera (L.) Jacq., forms low, widely 
spreading growths and is conspicuous with its broad, clasping leaves. The so- 
called sagebrush, Lantana involucrata L., with its showy flowers, is strongly 
redolent at times, especially when its leaves are crushed. As a growth form 
it suggests the shrubby species of Ceanothus common in the California chap- 
arral, and ecologically, Lantana replaces Ceanothus on the dry dunes of South 
Florida. Croton punctatus Jacq. may be classified similarly from the stand- 
point of ecologic habitat. 'Two mimosaceous shrubs form part of the con- 
spicuous growth of this dune complex. They are the unarmed shrub, called 
cat's-claw, Pithecolobium unguis-cati (L.) Benth., and the spiny blackbead, 
P. guadalupensis Chapm., that suggest the scrub of the Bahamas of which 
they are elements. The poisonous doctor-gum, Rhus toxiferum L. [=Meto- 
pium toxiferum (L.) Krug and Urban], is occasional as an element of the sandy 
strand vegetation, as also the unarmed shrub with pale bark, known as the 
seven-year apple, Genipa (Casasia) clusiaefolia (Jacq.) Griseb. Two rubiaceous 
shrubs, Erithalis fructicosa L. and Ernodea littoralis Sw., are noteworthy be- 
cause they are covered by that curious climbing yellow and green vine with 
matted stems, Cassytha filiformis L., which much resembles the dodder. The 
leaves are scale-like, and the greenish-white flowers are in short spikes.* 
* Cf. Boewig, Harriet: The Histology and Development of Cassytha filiformis L. Contributions 
rom the Bot. Lab., Univ. of Pa., Vol. II, 399-416, 1904. 
