PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT. 
233 
The salt marshes of northern Florida are not very extensive 
—usually not more than a mile in width—and they differ very 
little from those of adjoining states. The following list of salt 
marsh plants is compiled from notes made along the coast in the 
vicinity of Fernandina, Mayport, New Smyrna, Titusville, Fort 
Myers, Punta Gorda, Cedar Keys, and Apalachicola. 
SHRUBS 
Avicennia nitida (black mangr 
Iva frutescens 
Laguncularia racemosa (white 
grove or buttonwood) 
Spartina glabra (marsh grass) 
Juncus Roemerianus (rush) 
Balls maritima 
Salicornia ambigua 
North of latitude 29 0 the bulk of the salt marsh vegetation con¬ 
sists of the first two herbs named, the second usually in less salty 
situations than the first. Southward the mangroves and button- 
woods become more and more prevalent, until by the time latitude 
26° is reached the marshes are completely replaced by mangrove 
swamps.. 
The following plants have been noticed in a mangrove swamp 
on Biscayne Bay near Lemon City, which is probably fairly typi¬ 
cal of all such places in South Florida: 
TREES 
Rhizophora Mangle (red man- Crescentia cucurbitina (calabash 
grove) tree) 
Conocarpus erectus (buttonwood) Coccolobis uvifera (sea grape) 
WOODY VINES 
Dalbergia Brozvnei Rhabdadenia biflora 
HERBS 
Acrostichum aureum? (a fern) Tillandsia Balbisiana (air-plant) 
Hymenocallis? (spider-lily) 
Salt marsh peat or muck contains too much mineral matter to be 
of any value for fuel, and it is usually very shallow besides. That 
of mangrove swamps is probably purer and deeper, on the average, 
though we have as yet little accurate information about it. (See 
analysis under miscellaneous No. 7.) In some parts of the world 
salt marshes are diked and ditched and thereby made available for 
cultivation, but this is an expensive process, profitable only where 
the population is dense enough to put high values on every class of 
land. 
■ove) Lyciutn Carolinianum 
Baccharis halimifolia 
man- Conocarpus erectus (buttonwood) 
Baccharis angustifolia 
HERBS 
Distichlis spicata? (a grass) 
Limonium Nashii 
Acrostichum aureum? (a fern) 
