TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 
VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 
Piaropus crassipes (Mart.) Britton, water-lettuce, Pistia stratiotes L., and 
pennywort, Hydrocotyle umbellata L. 
The shores of Lake Okeechobee are low and not well-defined. As the lake 
rises, its waters inundate the flat country and the shore line recedes several 
miles, so that the area of the lake is much larger at high than at low water. 
The bed of the lake, except in the southern part, is a fine hard sand and pre- 
sents a comparatively smooth and even bottom. The soundings disclose no 
deep holes, or channels, and no rock is found except in the vicinity of Chancy 
Bay. The lake has no tides, but its surface is quickly ruffled by the winds, and 
it is not uncommon to find the water at least 30 decimeters (1 foot) higher on 
one side than on the other, due wholly to the influence of the wind pressure. 
The water in the lake, when not agitated, is clean and wholesome, and is re- 
garded by hunters and fishermen, who frequent the lake, as extremely health- 
ful.* The lake had no well-defined outlet to the sea until within recent years, 
but during the rainy season, its waters overflowed its banks from the mouth 
of Fish-eating Creek on the west around the south side to a point on the east 
several miles north of Pelican Bay, a distance of probably 112 kilometers. 
With such a width of overflow, it matters not even now how hard it rains as 
the level of the lake cannot rise above a level of 6.8 meters (22.5 feet). 
About 1884, a canal 21.3 meters (70 feet) wide and 1.8 meters (6 feet) 
deep was completed from the Caloosahatchee River at Ft. Thompson up 
through Lake Flirt, Bonnet Lake and Lake Hicpochee, making a direct and well- 
defined channelinto Lake Okeechobee. Lyingnorth and west of Lake Okeecho- 
bee is a watershed, seven and a half times as large as the lake. The drainage 
area is comparatively level, having a gentle slope from the north toward the 
south, and discharges all of its run-off into Lake Okeechobee. In the area 
are lakes, the largest of which are Tohopekaliga, Kissimmee and Istokpoga. 
During the rainy season, the rainfall not removed by evaporation is poured 
down Fish-cating Creek, the Kissimmee River, Taylor Creek and along the 
numerous sloughs and low depressions on the north into Lake Okeechobee. 
“The watershed drained by Lake Okeechobee, including the area of the 
lake, is approximately 4,000,000 acres. There is no authentic record of the 
rainfall in this area except at Kissimmee in the northern portion, so we must 
assume that the rainfall at this station represents fairly accurately that of the 
entire watershed. The average annual rainfall at Kissimmee for the past nine 
* Everglades of Florida, Senate Document No. 89, 131. 1911. 
