224 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 
The prevailing vegetation of the lake region is of the “high pine 
land” type. Scattered through the region, usually but not al¬ 
ways on snow-white sand, and apparently not bearing any con¬ 
stant topographic relation to the high pine land, is a very different 
type of vegetation known as “scrub,” consisting chiefly of spruce 
pines and small evergreen oaks. This is very characteristic of the 
lake region, but not confined to it, being found also on the old 
dunes near the coasts of East and West Florida, and in a few other 
parts of the State. High and low hammocks, saw-grass marshes 
and cypress swamps, are common in the vicinity of the larger lakes. 
The country for a few miles on either side of the St. Johns 
River is mostly of the flatwoods type, and might perhaps be justly 
regarded as a distinct subdivision; but it happens that most of the 
lakes along this river are within what is here mapped as the lake 
region, and probably no serious error will result from including 
this part of the St. Johns valley with the country on either side of 
it. 
The lakes of this region having no subterranean outlets, and be¬ 
ing located among sandy hills which retain water somewhat in 
the manner of a sponge, do not vary much in level with the 
seasons. In the smaller lakes, therefore, and in the shallower 
parts of the larger lakes, conditions are ideal for the formation of 
peat. It would not be much of an exaggeration to say that peat of 
excellent quality can be found in every square mile of the lake re¬ 
gion. The various classes of swamps, bogs, marshes, etc., in this 
region will be described in the next chapter, and analyses will be 
found farther on, under localities 3, 4, 12 to 15, 18, 19, 22, 23, 
The climate data given on page 215 are for a station in the 
heart of this region. 
EAST FLORIDA FLATWOODS. 
(PLATES 14.3, 15.1, 23.I, 28. FIG. 24) 
An area of about 4000 square miles in the northeastern corner 
of the State is comparatively flat, but with considerable elevation 
at distances of 40 miles or more from the coast. Near the rivers, 
and along the western edge, there has been enough erosion to give 
the region somewhat the character of a dissected table-land, but 
over the greater part of the area streams and valleys have never 
had a chance to develop to any appreciable extent, and the surface 
is dotted with countless shallow cypress ponds, nearly all of which 
dry up in the spring, like those of West Florida. Lakes are not 
very characteristic of this region, but there are several shallow but 
permanent ones in the western part, particularly in Columbia, Baker, 
