194 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



severe upon them. Ever3nvhere the Pithecolo- 

 bium is by far the most abundant shrub in the 

 incipient hammock, and the live oak is perhaps a 

 close second. A thorny shrub belonging to the 

 coffee family, Randia aculeata, having small, 

 glossy leaves and pretty white flowers, is very 

 abundant on the rocky ridges where young ham- 

 mock is forming and in the old-established forest 

 south of Miami it becomes a genuine tree. I have 

 seen a number of other examples where hammocks 

 began to develop in pine woods less subject to fire. 



On islands, where the fire risk reaches the 

 minimum, hammock growth usually takes undis- 

 puted possession. This is equally the case on 

 peninsulas. Throughout much of the territory 

 from Miami southward the floor of the pine woods 

 is of that exceedingly irregular, ragged limestone 

 already described and upon it the hammock growth 

 is forever seeking lodgment but the fire is sure to 

 come sooner or later. These incipient hammocks 

 in such exposed, thin-soiled regions never progress 

 beyond the stage of dwarfed shrubs. 



Near the extreme lower end of the mainland the 

 rocky surface is elevated only two or three feet 

 above ordinary high tide. Everywhere are count- 



