88 TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 
VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 
from Delray on the east coast south to Detroit in Dade County and the low 
ridges of this rock separate the Everglades from the mangrove swamps and 
salt prairies along the western shore of Bay Biscayne. Along the western 
edge, the outcrops slope gradually to the level of the Everglades and at their 
southern extremity a sharp western bend is made where the limestone tapers 
off to a series of rocky keys, or islands, surrounded by saw-grass vegetation. 
Long Key is the largest of these rock islands, which extend fully 24 kms. be- 
yond the southwest corner of the larger groups of similar islands. The hard 
rock outcrops west of the Everglades are more scattered than on the east coast, 
but cover a wider extent of country. The region of pine islands and cypress 
swamps is characterized by projections of limestone through the sandy mantle. 
Such outcrops are found along the roads from Ft. Myers to Ft. Shackleford 
and from Ft. Myers past Immokalee to the head of Allens River. There are 
also areas of bare rock, which extend as narrow, interrupted strips of varying 
length up to several miles through the pineland. The limestone on the west 
coast is denser and finer than on the east coast, so that it weathers irregularly 
into rounded knobs, which project several inches to a foot above the surface. 
On the east coast, the softer, oölotic limestone weathers into sharp, angular 
fragments which lie loosely on the surface, or it is eaten into pockets filled with 
sand, which accommodate various plants of the region (Plate II, Fig. 3). The 
surface, therefore, is very rough and uneven, and owing to the honeycombed 
character of the rock, in some places full of larger and smaller pot holes, walk- 
ing through the forest is dangerous, especially, too, as loose fragments strew the 
surface and rattlesnakes are found sometimes. There has been solution under- 
ground as well and the holes which have been formed, and which communicate 
with underground channels, are of all sizes. Some of them are known as 
banana holes (Plate III, Figs. 1 and 2) and will be described later with their 
vegetation. Deep Lake on the west coast, twelve miles east of Everglade 
Post Office, is a great limestone sink filled with water. The low, natural rock 
bridge of Arch Creek and the Punch Bowl are evidence of such solution. The 
pineland is intersected by rivers that have been described in the geographic 
section. South of Larkin, narrow transverse prairies extending west almost 
or quite to the Everglades separate the pineland into islands. Т hese 
prairies vary in width and their appearance and vegetation will be left for sub- 
sequent treatment. 
The pine forest consists of tall slash-pine trees, Pinus caribaea Morelet, of 
