REPORT ON A BOTANICAL SURVEY OF THE DISMAL SWAMP 



REGION. 



INTRODUCTION. 



During the summer of 1898 a botanical survey of the Great Dismal 

 Swamp in southeastern Virginia, and of adjacent parts of Virginia 

 and North Carolina, was carried on by this Division. From May to 

 November a great part of the region as defined below was traversed 

 and, as far as possible, carefully explored. The work was pursued in 

 the extensive area bordered on the north by the mouth of Chesapeake 

 Bay and on the south by the lower reaches of the Neuse River. But 

 only that portion of it included in and immediately adjoining the 

 Great Dismal Swamp, especially on the northeast, east, and southeast, 

 could be surveyed with any considerable care in the time allotted. 



During the prosecution of the survey headquarters were made in 

 the city of Norfolk, and thence excursions were made into the sur- 

 rounding territory. The Great Dismal Swamp was traversed in sev- 

 eral directions, and that part which borders .on Lake Drummond was 

 somewhat thoroughly explored. The outer strand was carefully stud- 

 ied from WUloughby Spit, on the south shore of the Chesapeake, to a 

 point about 8 miles below Virginia Beach, on the Atlantic, much time 

 being given to Cape Henry and its vicinity. The "trucking" area in 

 the neighborhood of Norfolk was frequently visited. In North Caro- 

 lina the neighborhood of Elizabeth City, of Edenton, and especially of 

 Newbern, was repeatedly traversed. A short time was spent upon 

 Ocracoke Reef, a little south of Cape Hatteras, and the results there 

 obtained were published in an earlier number of the Contributions 

 from the United States National Herbarium. 1 



Two main object s were kept in view during the progress of the inves- 

 tigation, one of which was largely economic in its bearing, the other 

 purely scientific. First, it was sought to ascertain in what degree the 

 character of the native vegetation of the region, varying to a certain 

 extent on different soils, may serve as an indication of the quality 

 and value of the soil. Second, a study was made of the ecological 

 distribution of the vegetation— in other words, of the various local 

 assemblages in which the different species and forms are combined 'to 



1 The Plant Covering of Ocracoke Island, Contr. Nat. Herb., vol. 5, No. 5 (1900). 



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