Figure 3 Dunes near Mosquito Inlet, Florida, as they look after being swept by fire. View looking east from 'Green Mound', a kitchenmidden on the lagoon, Halifax River. The Atlantic Ocean may be seen in the distance. The edge of the midden may be seen on the right corner of the foreground - two white spots are oyster shells. The prostrate and creeping habit of the palm stems is evident, especially in the inset. p. 198 In the stiff soils towards the extremities of its geographic range, especially where fire is frequent, the plants are offten puny and limited, in the sandy soils they are robust and prolific. This condition has led to the temporary recognition of more than one species. The saw-palmetto is typically a prostrate plant. Ages ago it may have been erect. In its early existence it may have been a more tender plant and then for the purpose of self-preservation it may have come to lay its stem prostrate and anchor it with numerous roots so as to be more immune from fire and other destroying conditions, just as many other plants seem to have done, particularly in the fire-swept regions (Figure 3.). p. 201 As intimated above, its stems are not always prostrate. In localities protected from fire, such as stream-banks, and barren coastal sand-dunes, one often finds groups and even groves of these palms with erect stems growing up to twenty-five or thirty feet tall (Figure 4).