SHRUB AND TREE ASSOCIATIONS. 45 
part and prevail in the openings and along the borders of the deciduous 
forests in the northern half of the State. Twenty-four species of the 
woody plants are of the liana form, stout climbers, which ascend the 
highest trees, nearly half of their number belonging to the grape 
family. Outside of the forest the shrubs rarely aggregate into an 
independent ‘* bush” formation of such extent as to make an impres- 
sion upon the physiognomy of the vegetation and to form a proper 
plant association. In the coast region, however, the following species 
form to a limited extent thickets more or less free from larger trees: 
Myrica cerifera (wax myrtle). Rhododendron spp. (azalea) . 
Myrica inodora (wax myrtle). Pieris vitida (andromeda) . 
Tlex cassine (dahoon holly). Leucothée avitlaris (andromeda). 
Ilex vomitoria (yaupon holly). Kalinia latifolia (mountain laurel). 
Osmanthus americanus (American olive). Vaccinium and Gaylussacia spp. (huckle- 
Ilicium floridanum (sweet illicium). berry, whortleberry). 
Symplocos tinctoria (horse sugar). Vuecinium arboreum (farkle berry). 
Bosquets of groundsels (Succharis halimifolia), with marsh elder 
(/ea frutescens), dot here and there the salt marshes of the seashore. 
The arborescent grasses of the bamboo tribe, the so-called cane, repre- 
sented in eastern North America by Arundinaria macrosperima wand 
A, tectau, form by their spread over wide areas a most peculiar and 
prominent feature in the vegetation of the State, known as canebrakes. 
The big cane, attaining not rarely a height of from 20 to 30 feet, occu- 
pies the more or less overflowed alluvial river banks. The so-called 
reed or switch cane, of smaller size, forms the impenetrable under- 
growth of the forests of the humid and fresh soil depressions, and is 
most prevalent in the Cretaceous plain, designated as the canebrake 
region. 
ARBOREAL PLANT ASSOCIATIONS, 
Asin most parts of eastern North America, forests constitute In 
Alabama the most extensive and predominating of plant formations. 
Under the influence of the mild climate of relatively low latitudes with 
an abundant rainfall evenly distributed throughout the year, condi- 
tions most favorable to tree growth, Alabama presents the aspect of a 
richly wooded country. From the mountain heights and valleys of 
the north to the shores of the Gulf the State is clad in a robe of forests 
scareely surpassed in the diversity of their tree growth and timber 
wealth by those of any other part of eastern North America. Origi- 
nally the tree covering was almost uninterrupted. It can safely be 
assumed that at present over 50 per cent of the area of the State 
remains under cover of the original forest growth, although more or 
less invaded by the ax in the more accessible localities. Of the 172 
arboreal species recorded as growing without cultivation in the State, 
15 are introductions from the warmer temperate and tropical regions, 
mostly of the Old World, and 3 from the States of the Southwest. 
