100 FLORIDA 



the larger and leafier bush near it, set along 

 the branches with more looselj; disposed orange- 

 colored berries, is Trema micraniha, a plant 

 which Chapman's Flora credits to but one place 

 in the United States, — " Shellmounds in Las- 

 tero Bay, South Florida," — though hereabout 

 it is one of the commonest of the common. 

 Both it and the French mulberry are prime 

 favorites with various kinds of birds. Mocking- 

 birds and catbirds are feasting on the berries at 

 this moment. 



And yes, here is a tree that I knew would ex- 

 cite my companion's curiosity. No stranger ever 

 drove over this road (and the first drive of every 

 newcomer to Miami is taken this way) without 

 asking his driver about it : a large tree, aU its 

 leafy branches far above the ground, with a 

 strangely conspicuous mahogany-colored bark, 

 the outermost layers of which peel off in loose 

 papery flakes, after the manner of the canoe birch. 

 On my first jaunt into the hammock I heard more 

 than one driver pronounce its eloquent name — 

 gumbo-limbo. The two or three men of whom I 

 made inquiries could teU me nothing more, tiU 

 my host, who professed no botany, modestly sug- 

 gested a reference to the dictionary. There, sure 

 enough, I found the clue I was seeking. The tree 

 is Bur sera gummifera, or Jamaica birch, one of 



