176 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



The silver palm has the growing bud closely 

 covered not only with the bases of the leaves but 

 also with a strong netting of clothlike fiber for 

 the purpose of supporting the young foliage. This 

 fiber is almost as fire-resistant as asbestos. The 

 trunk — ^for it sometimes becomes a small tree — 

 is covered with a hard, corky thick bark, which 

 also furnishes an excellent protection against 

 heat. 



One of the most interesting plants of the pine 

 woods is a stemless palm with stout leaf stalks and 

 heavy, fan-shaped leaves having midribs strongly 

 recurved (Sabal megacarpa). It begins life like 

 any ordinary palm by sending up a few slender, 

 entire leaves. Then the base of about the third 

 leaf bends back into the ground and then suddenly 

 turns upward, forming a blade above the ground. 

 The lower part of the next leaf in like manner 

 turns, going still deeper into the soil and then 

 ascends. About this time the little stem abruptly 

 changes its direction and grows almost vertically 

 back into the earth, leaving a blunt stub at the 

 point where it turned. As the plant grows the 

 stem goes deeper and deeper and the leaves come 

 up from the buried point, the stem always re- 



