478 BOTANICAL SURVEY OF DISMAL SWAMP REGION. 



of plant life in the Dismal Swamp region. The dunes and salt 

 marshes are of course exceptions, but these can be left out of the 

 discussion, which concerns only soils thai are likely to be of agricul- 

 tural value. 



Now, there exists an clement, of uncertainty, which made itself 

 evident at the outset of the investigation, in the very considerable 

 versatility as to habitat which many plants exhibit in this region. 

 Woody plants are elsewhere usually quite sensitive to differences of 

 water content in the soil. Thus, in regions where the surface of the 

 country is more broken and exhibits a greater variety of elevation 

 the red maple is rarely found outside of swamps, while such trees 

 as sweet gum, willow oak, bultonwood, sand-bar willow, ami blue 

 beech are confined to the banks of streams. In the Dismal Swamp 

 region, however, all these plants are met with in the driest soils of t hat 

 section, even occurring upon the sand dunes of the coast. Sweet gum 

 and red maple are present almost everywhere, usually in the greatest 

 abundance. 



Sassafras, sumac(A > ////.v copaliina), persimmon, sourwood (Oxyden- 

 drum), and spikenard tree (Aral id spinosa) are all common plants 

 in the Piedmont and the mountain regions of the Southern States, 

 as well as in the Coastal Plain. But while in the more elevated parts 

 they are most characteristic of dry uplands, near the coast they 

 occupy very wet as well as comparatively very dry soils, even thriv- 

 ing in all but submersed ground in the Dismal Swamp. As partially 

 explaining this peculiarity of distribution, however, it must be borne 

 in mind that arid soils, or even soils that remain constantly dry for 

 any considerable period, are unknown in the region we are describ- 

 ing. The difference between the wettest and the driest land is here 

 much less sharp than in districts having a more perfect drainage. 



Still, with every allowance for the absence of sharp limits between 

 the vegetation of soil that is moderately heavy and wet, but not 

 swampy, and that which is relatively light and dry, we are, neverthe- 

 less, able to recognize a type of native growth which serves fairly 

 well as an indication of a soil of the latter character and one therefore 

 that is well adapted to truck. 



Short-leaf pine (Pinus laeda) is always present in such land if it 

 has retained its original vegetation. This tree does not, however, 

 reach its largest size on the truck soils, but in land having consider- 

 ably more bottom, such as usually occurs farther from salt water. 

 Where the original growth of pine has been disturbed hardwoods 

 tend to replace it, and these are also usually present as undergrowth 

 in the more open pine forest. Various oaks, especially Spanish oak 

 {Quercus digitata), white oak (Q. alba), red oak (Q. rubra), quercit- 

 ron (Q. velutina), and the so-called water oak (Q. nigra) are usually 

 present. Sweet gum {Liquidambar styraciflua) is almost always 

 found upon land that is adapted to truck crops, often forming the 

 principal undergrowth. The presence of dogwood (Cornus fiorida) 



