THE EVERGLADES 123 



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parts of the Everglades. The common name of 

 this plant is from the striking resemblance of its 

 long, hairy flower heads to the tail of a fox. This 

 species attains a height of quite fifteen feet and 

 its immense heads are often two inches in diame- 

 ter and as many feet long. I have elsewhere 

 mentioned the Phragmites or common reed, hol- 

 low stems of which are used for plant stakes and 

 a variety of other purposes. It is abundant in 

 places. Often associated with it is a boneset 

 which grows ten feet high and also the elegant 

 Thalia with its attractive purple flowers held 

 aloft. In suitable stations there is an exaggerated 

 bulkush {Scirpus validiis) fully fifteen feet high, 

 with stems a generous inch in diameter. 



An immense weed belonging to the Amaranth 

 family seems to be spreading over the recently 

 drained parts of the swamp. It is the water hemp 

 {Acnida australis) and it frequently attains a stem 

 diameter of more than a foot and a height of 

 twenty feet; yet this gigantic plant is an annual 

 and makes its astonishing growth in a single 

 summer. In places it densely covers large tracts, 

 and at a little distance may easily be mistaken 

 for real forest. Its great trunk, however, is Uttle 



