400 RAMBLES IN FLORIDA. 
standing in the Post Office yard perished from the same 
cause, though a rosebush near it was loaded with red flow- 
ers.* Many of the orange trees were full of fruit, which 
was ruined by the fatal blast, and bushels were rotting on 
the ground. In some sheltered spots or warm places on the 
shore of Old Tampa Bay they were untouched, and we had 
many a feast upon the golden fruit from that neighborhood. 
The Florida oranges we consider superior to the Mediter- 
ranean, Mexican or Tahitan; they are of large size, good 
color and fine flavor. The Shaddock (Citrus decumana) 
also grows in the vicinity of Tampa, and very fine speci- 
mens of the fruit were purchased by us at the stores. It is 
extensively cultivated in the West Indies, and many people 
prefer it to the orange; it is slightly bitter, and the juice, à 
mild acid, is cooling and healthful. It is called Grape Fruit 
by the Floridians. Not far from our camp is a grove con- 
sisting principally of pines of the species Pinus palustris, 
also called the pitch-pine, and long-leaved pine, and P. teda, 
known as the loblolly pine, and many may be seen in the 
streets and elsewhere about the town ; they sometimes attain 
a height of one hundred feet, but we have as yet seen none 
that exceeded seventy feet. The Chameerops serrulata, or 
Saw Palmetto, here, as everywhere in South Florida, grows 
luxuriantly in the sandy soil, and just outside of the town 
it seems to have crowded out all other shrubbery. 
Without enumerating the many botanical forms that are 
met with in this section of the country, a few of the promi- 
nent species worthy of mention are the Sweet Bay (Magno- 
lia glauca Linn.), which grows to the height of twenty feet, 
with highly perfumed flowers and shining leaves (an iso- 
lated colony of this species sheds its fragrance on the colder 
air of the north, being found in the vicinity of Gloucester, 
Mass.); the Southern Buckthorn (Frangula Caroliniana 
 Walt.), a species of Hawthorn; the Catalpa, or Indian- 
i A 





*This was in the latter part of January. 


