PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT. 
325 
Hydrocotyle Bonariensis Lam.? 
Usually floating in still deep water, especially if calcareous. Noticed in 
the estuaries of Santa Rosa County, in the Withlacoochee, Homosassa and 
Panasoffkee Rivers and Helena Run, in the St. Johns River swamps near Astor, 
and in Lakes Griffin, Harris, Dora and Apopka. 
Probably introduced from the tropics. 
Hydrocotyle umbeliata L. 
Peat prairies, sandy prairies, shores of small lakes, etc. Leon, Madison, 
Alachua, Lake, Polk, Hillsborough, and doubtless many other counties. 
Widely distributed in the Eastern United States and tropical America. 
ARALIACEAE. Ginseng Family. 
Aralia spinosa L. Prickly Ash. 
Usually in hammocks or on bluffs, but grows on a few feet of peat in the 
St. Johns River swamp near Palatka, and probably elsewhere. 
Widely distributed in the Eastern United States between latitudes 290 
and 40°. 
CORNACEAE. Dogwood Family. 
Comus stricta Lam. 
Chiefly in calcareous swamps, sloughs and low hammocks, from DeSoto 
County northward. Sometimes on several feet of peat, but such peat is gen¬ 
erally impure, or full of logs, or both. 
Virginia to Mississippi. 
Nyssa Ogeche Marsh. Tupelo Gum or Ogeechee Lime. 
North of latitude 30°, in swamps and sloughs of various kinds, mostly where 
the water is non-calcareous and fluctuates about two feet. Rather common from 
the Tallahassee meridian west to the mouth of the Choctawhatchee River. Be¬ 
comes a medium-sized tree in the estuarine swamps of the Choctawhatchee and 
Apalachicola Rivers. (It does not seem to grow above the reach of the tides 
on the latter river or any of its 'tributaries-) Farther east, near the St. Marys 
River, it is a small tree or large shrub, and grows often around ponds. 
Extreme southern South Carolina to West Florida. 
Nyssa uniflora Wang. (N. aquatica L., in part-) Tupelo Gum. 
In swamps and sloughs, affecting more muddy or calcareous situations than 
the preceding, and flourishing especially in alluvial swamps. Known in Florida 
only from Leon and Wakulla Counties on the east to the Choctawhatchee River 
on the west. Rarely if ever on good peat. 
Virginia to Florida, Illinois and Texas, mostly in the coastal plain. 
Nyssa biflora Walt. Black Gum. 
In non-alluvial swamps, shallow ponds, etc., but not averse to a little lime. 
Common in all the northern tier of counties, and extending as far south as 
DeSoto County. Seems to be rare in the lake region and east of there. 
Maryland to Texas, mostly in the coastal plain. 
