388 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Aug., 



Baccharis halimifolia (#) and Panicum virgatum in dry sandy soil 

 above tide action forms the border growth, while on the opposite side 

 of the island in wetter soil is found the edge of an extensive association 

 of J uncus Gerardi (J), which here touches the river channel. An ex- 

 tensive growth of Spartina stricta maritima (X) covers the western 

 end of the island surrounding the slough marked on the map (Fig. 5). 

 As this growth of salt grass is found in soil only covered at high tide 

 in its development here, it is in marked contrast to its growth in the 

 shore mud, which is never practically uncovered by tidal flow. Else- 

 where in the center of the island occur associations of 1, Distichlis 

 spicata (O) with Limonium carolinianum (A); 2, J uncus Gerardi (J); 

 3, Spartina patens (V), with and without Iva imbricata, while a small 

 dune is covered with Panicum virgatum and Solidago semper vir ens. 



Vegetation of the North (Avon) Shore of Shark River. 



Beginning at the beach front, where it covers a wide area of shore 

 mud, and extending in a narrow strip to the trolley bridge, where it 

 again widens, Spartina stricta maritima occurs as a border growth. 

 Just back of the ocean dunes, this association surrounds several smaller 

 ones of Spartina patens (V) alone, Distichlis spicata (0) alone, Scirpus 

 pungens (Z) alone and Phragmites communis ( * ), which grows at the 

 inner edge of the marshland proper, as do Salicornia herbacea (tH ) and 

 Limonium carolinianum, while in a smaller growth of Spartina stricta 

 maritima (X) back of the border strip grow Scirpus robustus and 

 Baccharis halimifolia (0). Lying between this strip and the sandy 

 shore, where Panicum virgatum is the character plant, is an extensive 

 association of Scirpus pungens (Z). As the shore bluff comes within 

 a few feet of the water's edge for a considerable distance along the 

 north shore of the river, the marshland narrows until only the fringing 

 growth of Spartina stricta maritima occupies the shore line, with a 

 narrow strip just back of it of Spartina patens (V), which as elsewhere 

 grows in the soil rarely exposed to the full tidal action. In a triangular 

 corner formed by the bluff as one side of the triangle, the trolley road 

 and the river as the other two sides, the marsh widens with a lagoon 

 in its center. The shore growth of Spartina stricta maritima (X) is 

 continuous with the growth of the grass which surrounds the water 

 of the lagoon (sp. gr. 1.0180). Forming conspicuous elements of the 

 vegetation of this triangle, and here as elsewhere to be distinguished 

 by the color of the plants, are several associations of marsh species. 

 One of the largest associations in contact with the bluff is composed of 

 Scirpus pungens (Z), surrounding Iva imbricata and Hibiscus moscheutos 



