220 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



and unable to refer a half dozen of the trees to 

 their genera or families. What of the medicinal 

 and useful properties of these many species of 

 trees, what part do they play in the economy of 

 the forest? Where and when did each one first 

 land and become established on our shores — ^and 

 whence; what changes have taken place among 

 them since they first arrived? Science knows but 

 little of them. The most ignorant Bahama Negro 

 can tell more about them than can the ablest 

 botanist. Verily the forest is full of unanswered 

 questions ! 



I have said that the older part of this forest is 

 wholly tropical but I must slightly modify this 

 statement. Here in the very densest and oldest 

 part of it is a northern tree, the common red mul- 

 berry {Morus rubra) which seems to be as much at 

 home as any of the tropical immigrants. These 

 Antillean trees, as I have explained, drive out*all 

 the temperate and warm temperate growth; why, 

 then, this exception ? This was long a puzzle to me 

 and I am not so sure that I have yet solved it. The 

 mulberry is a member of the Moraceae, a family 

 including the breadfruit and belonging mostly to 

 the tropics; it has only a few outliers in temperate 



