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VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 
185 
group is composed of cryptophytes characterized by their dormant buds being 
subterranean, or sub-aquatic. They include aquatic and marsh plants (helo- 
phytes), denoted by HH., and geophytes, denoted by G. The therophytes 
(Th.) are annual plants that live in the unfavorable season as seeds. F inally 
there are the stem succulents (S.) and the epiphytes (E.). 
An attempt has been made to group the native species of the Miami region, 
the Florida keys and the pine-barren region of New Jersey under the above 
growth forms, but this has been no easy task, because our knowledge of the 
underground parts of many species is incomplete. It is, therefore, probable 
that mistakes have been made. Some of these mistakes will neutralize each 
other, but other errors are unavoidable when the descriptions and herbarium 
sheets do not enable the student to reach determinative conclusions. The 
percentages of the different growth forms in a region arranged in a series, or 
gamut, gives a picture, or spectrum, in the words of Raunkiær: “Ich werde 
deshalb der Kürzes halben im folgenden eine solche statistich-biologische 
Uebersicht als Spektrum bezeichnen, als biologisches Spektrum oder Pflanzen- 
klimaspektrum. ” He has worked out theoretically a normal spectrum, 
which is given in the adjoined table. With this normal spectrum, other 
spectra can be compared. Under Ph. for St. Thomas and St. John islands, for 
the Seychelles, Aden and the Normal Spectrum, the percentages are arranged 
as MM., М. and N., i. e., megaphanerophytes, microphanerophytes and nano- 
phanerophytes. It will be noticed, that in the Miami flora the hemicrypto- 
phytes are the most abundant, followed by the phanerophytes, the therophytes 
and the chamephytes. In the flora of the Florida Keys, the phanerophytes 
preponderate, followed by the chamæphytes (20%), therophytes (20%) and 
the hemicryptophytes. 
| PERCENTAGE OF SPECIES Or EACH GROWTH-FORM 
NUMBER | w: ной — 
PLANT SPECTRA REGIONS OF у | : 
SPECIES 5. | Е. Ph. Ch. H. G. HH. Tb. 
Miami Region 793 “ag 22 16 28 6 6 18 
FIONA Б@ў# dn 527 ar 32 20 19 3 3 20 
N. J. Pine Barrens...... 458 | 21 — 14 10 38 3 24 11 
St. Thomas and St. John. 904 | 2 1^5. 5090) eels ай 9 3 I 14 
SOC EC WU VANUS 258 | I $- Tor 235 un 0 12 3 2 16 
Pol a aa ee 176 ї шы Кы Me Ae) ROE rg IQ 3 — 17 
Transcaspian Lowlands“. 768 — — 11 "i 27 9 $ 4ї 
РЫШ sets ( cu 514 — |= 1 12 63 5 5 * 
Death Valle 294 3 Б 28 7 18 2 5 42 
COM РА ee 400 | — - 9 13 32 її 2 33 
Libyan Desert. 194 — — 12 21 20 4 1 42 
ITA ие: 373 — 9 14 19 8 — 50 
Normal Spectrum....... 400 | I $ 1790,15 20 9 ay 3 I 13 
* Paulsen, Ove: Studies on the Vegetation of the Transcaspian Lowlands, 1912: 135-173. 
