NATURAL AREAS Ai\D REGIONS 



451 



Pecan {Carya illinoensis) and C. 

 myrislicaeformis are said to be native 

 in a small area near Demopolis (see 

 Mohr's Plant Life of Alabama). 



The Southern Railway from Selma to 

 Demopolis passes through the center 

 of the area. The greatest display of 

 prairie flowers is probably in early June. 



11. The Chimnennuggee Ridge or blue 

 marl region, confined to Alabama and 

 Georgia, is of nearly the same geological 

 age as the black belt, but less fertile, 

 more sandy, and better watered, per- 

 haps partly on account of having more 

 rain in summer. Some of the creeks 

 and rivers flow in gorges 10 to 50 ft. 

 deep, with some interesting plants on 

 their shady walls. The soils are classed 

 as sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sand 

 and clay, and appear to be a little defi- 

 cient in iron, for quite a number of 

 trees that abound on ferruginous soils 

 in other parts of the state are rather 

 scarce here. 



The commonest trees are about the 

 same as those of the "black belt," but 

 fewer species are represented. 



There is nothing remarkable here 

 except the occurrence of a few trees 

 rare or unknown farther inland, as the 

 magnolia {M. grandiflora) and tyty 

 {Cyrilla racemiflora), and a few plants 

 of more northerly distribution which 

 have pushed southv.ard along the 

 shady banks of streams. 



12. The post-oak flatwoods is a nar- 

 row belt confined to Alabama and ;Mis- 

 sissippi, with flattish topography and 

 stiff grayish clay soil, difficult to culti- 

 vate, and not well watered. 



Probably nine-tenths of the area is 

 more or less wooded, but lumbering 

 operations have taken the best of the 

 pine. The commonest trees are lob- 

 lolly pine, shortleaf pine, sweet gum, 

 post oak, red oak, longleaf pine, water 

 oak, willow oak, black willow, ironwood, 

 mulberry, dogwood, and sweet bay. 



There is very little of interest in this 

 region. The boundary between it and 

 the black belt is in some i)laces very 

 sharp, the transition being complete 

 within a quarter of a mile or so. 



13. The southern red hill belt, shown 

 on the map as extending all the way 

 across the state, can be divided near 

 the middle into an eastern and western 

 portion, which although of about the 

 same age geologically, differ perceptibly 

 in soil, topography, climate, vegetation 

 and population. . , 



The western portion is characterized 

 by rather high ridges for the coastal 

 plain, some of them almost mountainmis, 

 with broad vallevs between them 1 he 

 rocks range from limestone to sandstone, 



and the soils are of moderate fertility. 

 About half the soil is fine sandy louiii. 

 There is more rain in early sumtncr thiiii 

 in late suiniiier. 



Lumbering has removed a good deal of 

 longleaf pine, and .some of the forest 

 is second growth on land formerly culti- 

 vated. There is a considerable variety 

 of trees; a few of the commonest are as 

 follows: 



Large trees: Loblolly pine, shortleaf 

 pine, longleaf pine, sweet gum, spruce 

 pine {Pinus glabra), magnolia, beech, 

 poplar, white oak, water (jak, red oak, 

 black-jack oak. 



Small trees: Black willow, sweet bay, 

 dogwood, ironwood, sourwood. 



Oaks are relatively scarce here, the 

 most abundant one standing ninth in 

 the list of trees. About 70% of the 

 trees are evergreen. 



There are some very interesting 

 places in this region. The high sand- 

 stone ridges, in the western ])orti(>n, 

 some having an altitude of perhaps (KM) 

 ft. and locally known as mountains, 

 make a belt a few miles wide parallel to 

 the edges of the region and passing near 

 Butler and Tunnel Springs. (See map in 

 Special Report No. 11 of the Geological 

 Survey of Alabama, 1920, p. 14.) They 

 are pretty well wooded, and are said to 

 still shelter some of the larger wild ani- 

 mals, such as bear, deer, and wild turkey. 

 On their shaded slopes are quite a num- 

 ber of more northern plants. The 

 mountains are crossed by two or three 

 railroads and the round trip from York, 

 Thomasville, Monroeville, or Selma can 

 be made in one day. 



Wilcox County Prairie. In eastern 

 Wilcox County, a few miles east of Snow 

 Hill, where the soil is too thin to plow 

 there is some natural prairie vegetation 

 that is rather uni(iue. iSee Ecology, 1: 

 198-203. 1920.) There ought to be 

 some interesting land shells there, too. 

 Claiborne Landing. On the Alabama 

 River in Monroe County is one of the 

 most noted localities in the world for 

 Eocene fossil shells. There are many 

 other places on l)oth of the large rivers 

 in this region almost as interesting to 

 conchologists. 



The eastern division of the red hills 

 is charactorize<l l)y broad uplands and 

 narrow valleys, and reddish soils below 

 the average in fertility, classed as sandy 

 loam, and line sandy loam, fine sand 

 and loamy sand. This region has a 

 little more rain in summer an<i less in 

 winter than i.ny previously described. 



Tlie forest area decreased from about 

 SO' in l^i'SO to oO' i" 1''20. Farming 

 is mostly on the smooth unlands, so that 

 the trees of ravines and swamps are 



