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PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



[Oct, 1857. 



good sized trees. Quercus virens is abundant, but no very large 

 "trees were seen. Of Pinus tseda, and P. rigida, each, a single in- 

 dividual only was seen; the former dying, or actually dead, the 

 last of its race on the island, as I was informed that at one time 

 they were numerous. The remaining two aborescent species, the 

 Cedar and the Palmetto, are the only ones that can be said to con- 

 stitute the forest of the island; and the Palmettos are abundant, 

 some rising to a height estimated at twenty-five feet. 

 The shrubs of the island are, also, seven in number: 



1. Xanthoxylum carolinianum, Tooth-ache bush. 



2. Baccharis halimifolia, Salt water myrtle. 



3. Ilex cassine, Cassena. 



4. Callicarpa americana. 



5. Myrica cerifera, Sweet myrtle. 



6. Yucca draconis, Spanish bayonet. 



7. Yucca gloriosa. 



Xanthoxylum americanum, which might be reckoned a small 

 tree, is common, and is found even on the sand hills; it is sur- 

 prising that all the authors we. have consulted, Elliott, Torrey 

 and Gray, Pursh, Michaux, Nuttall, &c. except Sir J. E. 

 Smith, and Loudon, (in the Arb. Britt.) spell Xanthoxylum 

 with a Z, instead of an X, as required by the Greek orthog- 

 raphy; a similar error, or variation, is found in Xcmthorhiza, but 

 in Xanthoxylum it is more remarkable, as gav^ocr and fuXov, the two 

 components of the word, begin with the same letter, for which 

 different English or Latin equivalents are used. Baccharis halimi- 

 folia is occasionally a large shrub, ten or twelve feet high, the 

 largest of our Compositse. Ilex cassine, with Myrica cerifera, con- 

 stitute the thickets of the more fertile portion of the island near 

 the " back beach," and flourish in this soil, bat do not appear on 

 the sand hills. Callicarpa americana, ornamented with its rich 

 clusters of purple colored fruit, (whence the name Callicarpa, 

 signifying beautiful fruit,) in whorls around the stems, was com- 

 mon among the thickets ; this plant ranges from the sea-coast to 

 our mountains. Yucca draconis is found in the thickets on the 

 more level portion of the island, but more abundantly upon the 

 front beach, and also in groups over the sand hills; the other 

 species is found in similar situations, but much less abundantly. 



The following climbers run over the shrubs and smaller plants, 

 and, to a certain extent, contribute to the formation of the thickets 

 in which they are found : 



