22 



THE CAPE SABLE REGION OF FLORIDA 



week. When the cargo was made secure from damage 

 by sun or salt-spray, we headed for Cape Sable again 

 and before sunset cast anchor for the night in Saw-fish 

 Hole, about three miles east of the cape. Here, an hour 

 was devoted to collecting in the black-mangrove ham- 

 mock, where more orchids and other interesting plants 

 were found. The orchids, naturally, were epiphytic and 

 the butterfly-orchid (Cyrtopodium) is the largest and 

 most conspicuous. The level floor of the swamp was 

 almost completely carpeted with a growth of the saltwort 

 (Batis maritima), growing mostly about knee-high, and 

 the leather-fern {Acrostichum aitreum) . Here and there, 

 however, im striking contrast to the deep green of the 

 saltwort, were shrubs or colonies of the maritime matri- 

 mony-vine (Lycium cmroliniamim) with its light green 

 foliage, blue or lilac flowers, and strikingly red berries. 



The following forenoon we started across the Bay of 

 Florida, heading in the direction of Vaca Key, but a 

 short stop was made at Sandy Key for collecting. This 

 key, an isolated sand-bar about seven miles south of Cape 

 Sable, supports considerable hamm'ock. Among the in- 

 teresting plants we found quantities of our rarest dew- 

 flower, the tropical Commelina elegans. Vaca Key we 

 reached in due time, then Bamboo Key,^ and, when dark- 

 ness found us, we were in a small bay behind Lower 

 Matecumbe Key, from a point near which ten days pre- 

 viously we had left the keys for Cape Sable. 



We landed on Lower Matecumbe Key the following 



5 This island was visited by the writer on a cruise earlier in 

 the year, and its vegetation was described in the Journal of the 

 New York Botanical Garden i8 : 107. 1917. 



