PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT.

Lorinseria areolata (L.) Presl
In non-alluvial and chiefly non-calcareous swamps, sometimes on a few feet of peat; not rare. Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, Bradford, Putnam, Lake, Orange, and several other counties,
Widely distributed in the Eastern United States.
Anchistea Virginica (L.) Presl
Always in wet places, but never in permanent or flowing or calcareous water. Abundant in cypress ponds, bays, slash-pine bogs, etc., and in the shade of clumps of small trees on peat prairies, as far south as Hillsborough and' Polk Counties. (Mr. A. A. Eaton has reported it as far south as Fort Myers and Fort Lauderdale.)
Nova Scotia to Michigan in the glaciated region, south to Florida and Texas in the coastal plain. Also in a few places among the lower mountains of Georgia and Alabama.
Blechnum serrulatum Mx.
In non-alluvial swamps, frequent from Lake County to the south end of the Everglades.
Also in tropical America.
Polypodium polypodioides (L.) Hitchcock. (P. incanum Sw.)
A common epiphyte in swamps and hammocks nearly all over the State; ultimately passing into either peat or humus with the tree on which it grows.
Widely distributed in the Southeastern United States and tropical America
Acrostichum aureum L.
Common on the borders of salt and brackish marshes, mangrove swamps, etc., in South Florida. Reported by Prof. Hitchcock as far north as Hernando County. (There are said to' be two species of Acrostichum in Florida, but I have not learned to distinguish them.)
South Florida and the tropics.
Ceratopteris thalictroides Brong. Floating Fern.
Among water-hyacinths in the Withlacoochee River near Istachatta.; rare. Said to occur also on the upper St. Johns River.
Florida, Louisiana, and the tropics.
Osmunda cinnamomea L. Cinnamon Fern.
In sandy bogs, low pine lands, non-alluvial swamps, etc., and among trees in peat prairies. Common in the northern half of the State, and extending at least as far south as Arcadia (and even to Monroe County, according to A. A. Eaton).
Nearly throughout the Eastern United States and adjacent Canada. Also reported from the West Indies, South America, Eastern Asia, etc.
Osmunda regalis L.
Often with the preceding, but usually in richer or more calcareous places. Probably grows in every county in Florida, hut is not abundant.
Said to be as cosmopolitan as the preceding; but some authors consider the American plant a distinct species from the European one.

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