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higher ground near the settlements and in places herds of cattle were seen, but the greater part of the prairie is uninhabited, & undeveloped.  A rich growth of various grasses cover it and a few herbacious or slightly shrubby plants flourish.  At present there are few flowers.  Rudbeckias are the commonest, the big coneflowers have mostly gone to seed.  A large purple flower is conspicuous in places & a big white mallow [[crossout]] was [[/crossout]] is common here & there. - See list of prairie species.

The timber is all in groves or bunches or else on the stream bottoms.  The groves are often of oak or again of pine ([[underline]] tida [[/underline]] & [[underline]] mitis [[/underline]]) or sometimes mixed pine & oak & sweet gum & other trees, all loaded with Spanish moss.  Along the streams are various oaks, pines, gum, cypress, magnolia, persimmon, [[crossout]]cypress[[/crossout]] sycamore, & various vines & in places palmetto.  See list of trees-   At one place just west of Sour Lake I thought the pines were [[underline]]palustris[[/underline]] but they were scrubby & may be [[underline]]teda.[[/underline]]

Transcription Notes:
The pine he calls "teda" is probably Pinus taeda (loblolly pine); "mitis" is another name for P. echinata (shortleaf pine) per www.ibiblio.org/pic/Tree_pages/Pinus_echinata.htm.