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96 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 
Of arboreal formations the peach, fig, pear, plum, pomegranate, 
and, in sheltered situations, the sweet and bitter orange and loquat, or 
Japanese medlar are cultivated, and also the grape. These fruits are, 
however, not yet planted sufliciently to form large orchards. 
REGION OF THE CENTRAL PINE BELT. 
Phystographical features. A helt of sands and pebbles crosses the 
State almost centrally in a southeastern and northwestern direction 
and separates the Paleozoic formation from the more recent sedimentary 
(Mesozoic) strata. This belt, varying from about 10 to a little over 
35 miles in width, extends from Russell County to a short distance 
west of Tuscaloosa County, where, with a sudden bend toward the 
north, it merges into the Lower Hills, which are clad with a mixed 
forest of short-leaf pine and upland hard-wood trees. Between the 
water courses the undulating surface frequently spreads out into 
more or less level table-lands. 
NXerophite and mesophile forests. —W herever the sandy loam forming 
the surface soil becomes deeper, the long-leaf pine is associated with 
post oak, Spanish oak, black oak, black-jack, pignut, and mockernut 
hickory, and where the more siliceous soil prevails the long-leaf pine 
alone forms continuous forests of a heavy timber growth, which furnish 
the supplies demanded by the active lumber industry established along 
the railroad lines traversing this belt. 
Entering this region at the northern border, the turkey or barren 
oak and the blue jack make their appearance and are frequent com- 
panions of the long-leaf pine of the dry-pine barrens farther south; 
and of evergreen shrubs and trees, which line the streams throughout 
the maritime pine belt, the sweet illicium (///céum floridanum), ti-ti 
(Cliftonia monophylla), and red bay (Persea carolina) are here met with. 
The limbs of the large trees, shading their banks, are now invested with 
the somber gray drapery of Spanish moss, and this, together with the 
appearance of the dwarf or blue palmetto (Sabal adansoni’) and arbor- 
escent lilies (Yucca aloifolia, Y. pfilamentosa), indicates that the sub- 
tropical region of the State has been entered. On the southern border 
of this central pine belt, in localities with a fresh moist soil, the 
magnolia is found from Russell County, at the eastern confine of the 
State, to Prattville and to York Station on the western boundary. 
The northern limit of the Southern spruce pine (Pinus glabra) proceeds 
very nearly along the same line. 
Xerophile and mesophile herbaceous plant associations. —The follow- 
ing herbaceous plants of the Louisianian area find their northern limit 
in this region and are but occasionally found to obtrude beyond it 
