418 



NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



Carolina. North Carolina Geol. Surv. 

 Bull. No. 6, 1-224, pis. 1-23, 1S97. 



Smith, The Fishes of North Carolina. 

 Volume II, North Carolina Geological 

 and Economic Survey. 



Wells, B. W. The Major Plant Com- 

 munities of North Carolina. Tech. 

 Bull. 25 N. C. Agr. Exp. Station, 1924. 



6. SOUTH CAROLINA 



By Philip Luginbill 



i. general conditions 



The state of South Carolina is approxi- 

 mately 31,000 sq. mi. in area. In shape 

 the state approaches the form of an 

 isosceles triangle, the apex of which rests 

 upon the summits of the Blue Ridge 

 Mountains. The base borders the At- 

 lantic, while the western and southern 

 boundary are washed bj'^ the Savannah 

 River and its tributaries. The geologi- 

 cal formations lie parallel to the coast 

 line. For several miles inland the post 

 Pliocene formation rests upon the 

 Eocene. These together with the Mio- 

 cene and cretaceous formation extend 

 about 100 mi. inland or until they touch 

 the crystalline rocks. The line of the 

 crystalline rocks separates the state into 

 two portions well defined geologically, 

 topographically and vegetation and also 

 politically, industrially and even 

 socially. The upper region, the (Pied- 

 mont Plateau) is spoken of as the up- 

 country and the lower (the Coastal 

 Plain), as the low-country. The up- 

 country is characterized by its growth 

 of shortleaf pine {Pinus echinata) and 

 deciduous oaks, the low-country by its 

 evergreen oaks (Quercus virginiana) , 

 draped with long gray moss, {Tillandsia 

 usneoides) . Socially the regions are 

 distinctive in customs, manners, ances- 

 try and even in the speech of the people. 

 From the crystalline rocks to the moun- 

 tains we find various strata, such as 

 limestones, itacolumite, clay talc, mica 

 slates, gneiss and granite. The same 

 parallelism of formations is maintained 

 throughout the mountain region. 



1 . Geographical regions and biota 



Geographers' have divided the state 

 of South Carolina into seven regions, 

 (1) Coastal Region, (2) Lower Pine 

 Belt or Savanna Region, (3) Upper Pine 

 Belt, (4) Red Hill Region, and (5) 

 Sand Hill Region, belonging to the 

 Coastal Plain; (6) Piedmont Plateau; 

 (7) Mountain Region. These regions 

 are quite distinctive in types of soil, 

 climate and the biota. 



a. Coastal Region. This region occu- 

 pies a narrow strip of land along the 

 coast rarely extending more than 10 

 mi. inland. It almost coincides with 

 the pliocene formation. It consists 

 largely of sea islands which at some 

 points along the shore are three and four ■ 

 deep, being separated from the mainland 

 by salt water rivers and inlets of the sea; 

 The salt marshes uncovered at low tide 

 bordering the sea islands are also part 

 of this region. The soil of the sea 

 islands consists largely of fine sandy 

 loam, resting on a subsoil of yellow clay, 

 which gives the soil a yellowish appear- 

 ance. Besides these soils there are 

 others in the many flats or fresh water 

 swamps and bays, which are composed 

 largely of black vegetable mould of 

 great fertility. These soils are sus- 

 ceptible to drainage. The climate of the 

 sea islands is equable. Extremes of 

 temperatures are greatest in the direc- 

 tion of low temperatures. The rainfall 

 is heavy (mean annual about 50 in.). 

 However the climate is not excessively 

 moist due to the large number of clear 

 days. Fogs are infrequent. 



As to the flora of the sea islands; the 

 palmetto, from which the state derived 

 its name "Palmetto State" was formerly 

 veiy common. Evergreen oaks with 

 long strings of hanging moss were also 

 abundant. Water oaks abounded plen- 

 tifully while pines, myrtles, vines of 

 various sorts also thrived in abundance. 



These islands attain a height of from 



1 Hammond's "South Carolina" used as an 

 authority. Some of the material from which this 

 article has been prepared has also been gleaned from 

 that valuable and rare volume. 



