588 harper: phytogeography of southern Maryland 



and St. Marys County is now without railroad connections. 

 The plateau is something hke a miniature of the Highlands of 

 New Jersey or the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee and Ala- 

 bama, which have broad well-wooded uplands with poor soil, 

 interrupted by occasional cultivated limestone valleys. The 

 soil is mostly loam of a pale buff color (''Leonardtown loam"), 

 varying toward sand in some places. One of the gravelly bogs 

 mentioned above is known in this region, and possibly others 

 may be hidden away among the forests. 



About 55 per cent of the area is 'still wooded, and perhaps half 

 of that is virgin forest, or at least occupies land that has never 

 been cultivated. Evergreens constitute about 25 per cent of 

 the timber. The commonest trees are about as follows: 



E Pinus virginiana. Scrub pine. 

 *QvercMs alba. White oak. 

 Liquidambar styraciflua. Sweet gum. 

 *Quercusmarylandica. Black-jack oak. 

 Quercus stellaia. Post oak. 

 Quercus falcaia. Red oak (southern). 

 *Nyssa sylvatica. Sour gum. 

 *Quercus phellos. Willow oak. 

 *Quercus coccinea. Scarlet oak. 

 Acer rubrum. Red maple. 



Castanea dentata. Chestnut. 



Liriodendron tulipifera. Poplar. 

 E *Jumperus virginiana. Cedar. 



Quercus velutina. Black oak. 



Fagus grandifolia. Beech. 



Quercus montana. Chestnut oak. 



Hicoria alba. Hickory. 



*Hicoria glabra. Hickory. 



Quercus palustria. Pin oak. 

 E Pinus rigida. Pitch pine. 



The various oaks here make up nearly half the forest, or more 

 than in any of the other four regions. The shrubby and her- 

 baceous undergrowth is very similar to that of the fall-line clay 

 hills. 



5. THE ST. MARYS REGION 



Under this head is lumped for the present the remainder of 

 southern Maryland, namely, all south of latitude 38° 30', to- 

 gether with the Patuxent Valley as far up as a line connecting 

 Annapolis and Upper Marlboro. It is all underlain by Miocene 

 strata, except the southwest corner, in the great bend of the 

 Potomac River, where there is an Eocene greensand area around 

 Nanjemoy that is comparatively inaccessible and little known. 



The soil is mainly loam and sandy loam of medium fertility, 

 and the topcgraphy is pretty thoroughly dissected into low hills 



