Excerpt from Ferns of Royal Palm Hammock: Descriptions and Illustrations of the Ferns and Fern-Allies Growing Naturally in Royal Palm Hammock and the Adjacent Everglades The vegetation, both herbaceous and woody, has had nearly uninterrupted growth for ages. This con dition, perhaps, accounts for the continued presence of the royal-palms. The decaying leaves, the large in orescences, and the fruits, falling at the very base of the palm, on account of the unbranched trunk, form mounds of humus larger and higher than' do any of the hardwood trees with their widely spreading branches. Upon such a gradually increasing mound a gigantic palm, is, from year to year, raised higher and higher on humus formed from its own tissues. These mounds of humus would furnish ideal fuel, and the palm, although able to resist fire above the roots, could not exist, or even' stand up, if the humus were burned away. As it is, it seems nothing short of a miracle that the slender trunks over one hundred feet tall with the massive crown of leaves and spadices can withstand the winds of ordinary storms, not to mention hurricanes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.