VEGETATION OF THE SALT MARSHES. 8tf3 



covering wider areas than the Spartina and extending np to dry 

 land. It is a plant which prefers situations that are not deeply 

 inundated at high tide, and are left ban 1 of superficial water, although 

 saturated, when the tide goes out. Consequently, it is able to shelter 

 a larger number of associates, and among its stems a majority of the 

 salt-marsh species of the region find a congenial habitat. 



Most abundant of these is the shrubby Tva frutescens, whose stems 

 usually grow as high as or higher than those of ./uncus roemerianus. 

 Conspicuous in the autumn are the white rays of a slender, weak- 

 stemmed, perennial Asler (A. fen uifol i it s) . Less showy, but moreabun- 

 dant, is the usually stout annual Aster subulatus. Lythrum lineare 

 and Limonium carolinianum are frequent. Spartina patens (a small 

 form) and S. polystachya sometimes grow among the Juncus, and 

 Typha latifolia frequently occurs in this association. At one point 

 below Virginia Beach a somewhat peculiar assemblage of species 

 occupies tiny pools among the Juncus growth — Monniera (Herpestis) 

 monniera, Lippia sp. (with the leafy and flowering branches remark- 

 ably strict and slender), Eleocharis mutata, Eleocharis glaucescens, 

 Paspalum distichum, etc. 



Typha association. — The common cat-tail of the region is a not 

 quite typical form of T. latifolia, which sometimes covers rather wide 

 strips in nearly pure association, especially near the upper limit of 

 brackish water along streams. Indeed, the same form is even more 

 abundant in the fresh-water marshes, and appears to be to some extent 

 indifferent to the presence or absence of considerable salt. It grows 

 usually to a height of about 2 meters (6 feet). 



Spartina patens association. — Very different in appearance from the 

 other coarse-looking marsh grasses is a small, slender form of Spar- 

 tina patens (juncea), which here and there forms a dense meadow-like, 

 dark-green covering of the salt marsh, interrupting the Juncus roe- 

 merianus association. It is usually only 3 to 6 decimeters (1 to 2 feet) 

 high. On Lynnhaven Bay and its branches, where this association 

 appears to be most abundant, the grassy marsh is dotted in midsum- 

 mer with the pink stars of Sabbatia stellaris. Fimbristylis spadicea 

 occurs in some quantity, and occasional bushes of Baccharis halimi- 

 folia and (dumps of Panicum virgatum vary the monotonous aspect 

 of this association. 



Other grass-like plaids occasionally predominate in the salt-marsh 

 vegetation, but are not of primary importance. Scirpus americanus, 

 •J decimeters (2 feet) or so high, sometimes forms a nearly pure asso- 

 ciation, conspicuous amid other marsh growth for its bright-green 

 color. Spartina polystachya, not infrequent in other marsh associa- 

 tions, rarely forms small assemblages alone, for example, near the 

 limit of navigation on the Nansemond River. It does not appear to 

 grow so tall here as farther south, 1£ to 2 meters (/> to 7 feet) being 

 its usual height. Phragmites communis is not uncommon near the 



