FEDERAL VRITERS' PROJECT
*209 Orange Ave.
.Daytona Beach, Florida
*1 /


A. ?. Trainor

Complete

500 words


Feature:. FLORA
(DeLand Environs)
April 20, 1936

A. -. T.


rO11iE DELEON SPRIITG8S


Ponce DeLeon Springs is 27 miles from-

Daytona Beach, 9 miles north of-DeLand. The crystal
is
spring, scintillating,/set in a growth of huge Oendro-

pogon Usneoides (Spanish.moss)-draped Quercus Virginiana

(live oaks), Phoenix Sylvestris (Indiandate palms), Sabal

-palmetto (cabbage palmetto palms), vines and tangled

floral growth.

It is the site of ruins of an old Spanish

sugar mili, with its water-wheel still turning. The

Spring discharges a very large volume of water, said to be

80,000 gallons per minute, and supposedly coming from an

underground river. The temperature of the water is 7P

degrees throughout the year.-

The principal items of interesting data

connected with DeLeon Springs, The Fountain of Youth and

the only spring bearing the name of Ponce deLeon, are that

ponoe-deLeon landed on Florida soil April 3, 1512, and

some years later came back to colonize.

A Casino, locat-d beside the Springs,

where lodging is obtainable, provides also a dining-room


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, e-atur 'FLOfRA (D eL& t En viro ns) ; -
Daytona Beach, Fla. .


where large and small luncheon and dinner parties are served.
fed by this great Spring
The lakes/are ideal for boating and canoeing.
The swimming.is excellent. A large-dance floor of the most
modern type has been constructed adjoining the'main poroh of

the Casino.


BLUE SPRINGS
A bowl of blue sky, strangely-enough not re-

flecting its blue, lies hidden in tropical foliage. Follow-

ing a narrow path through a jungle of Babal palrietto (cabbage

palmetto), Dendroeosn usneoide6 (Spanish moss)-hung Querous
virpiniana (live oaks), and tropical flowers,. one comes to

this rare spring. The gurgle of the spring as its water is "

forced from ics transparent depth is never stilled. It .is

one of the most beautiful of the many wonderful springs of
Florida. Clear water, a deep blue, and equatic plants,

fishes and other life seen in its dep-ths are different'

shades of this hue. .The basin is 70 ft. in diameter, 40

ft. deep. Volume is sufficient to feed a stream 10 .ft.

wide and 5 ft. deep. The current flows at the rate of 5

miles per hour.

Surrounding the springs are wild flowers,
ferns, Dendropogon Usneoides-covered Quercue virainiana,

Sabal palmetto, Tamala borbonia (sweet bay), Magnolia

Foetida (magnolia), and thick vines.


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F, DI._aytona Bea6h, ^la, ,
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GREEN SPRINGS

Fourteen mibs southeast of DeLand .is Green

Springs, a jade green spring overcast by Dendrooogon
usneoides, draped Querous, Sabal palmettos, Surrounded as

it is by thiok Florida jungles of vines, Magnolia foetida,

Tamala borbonia (sweet bay), wild ferns, and other semi-
it harbors
tropical plants,/the grave of Polly Taylor, said to be the

first white person buried south of St. Augustine.

ORANGE CITY

Cu the rollins uplands, 6 miles south of

DeLand, lies Orange City, a beautiful little town nestling

under the shade of widespread Querous virginiana and their

draping DendroDpoon usneoldes, lining the avenues ,and park- *

ways.

Orange City is famous for its mineral water,

bottled ad' shipped to all parts of the world, and was

awarded first prize at the World's Fair in St. Louis, the

world's purest water.

Nearby, the high cut-over pine lands are

especially adapted to citrus and fern growing.


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."'.. I. ,' "By Rubye K. Goebel

Edited by A. W. Trainer
April-20, 1936




BIBLIOGRAPHY


DeLand City Directory and Guide 1934. Pub. C. L. Coy, Tampa,
Fla. Property of Daytona Beach Chamber of Commerce.
A Guide to Florida (Kims) by Ethel Byrum Kimball and The *
Record Co., St. Augustine, Fla.
Agriculture in Volusia County Florida. Compiled by Helene
E. Pillsbury, printed by The Drew Press, Jacksonville, Fla.
,Standardized P.ant names, American Joint Committee on Horti-
oultural Nomenolature, Salem, Mass. 1924. Daytona Beach
Public Library.

Florida Trees, A Handbook of the Native and Naturalized
Trees of Florida, by John Kinkel Small, Ph.D., So.D., N.Y.
Pub. by author, 1913. D.B. Public Library.

In Florida Gardens, by Mrs. Millar Wilson and Mrs. John A.
Ferg uson, Pub. by the authzor, 1934. D.B. Public Library.


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