THE LIANA VEGETATION OF SOUTHEASTERN 



VIRGINIA. 



By Thos. H. Kearney, /r. 



ONE of the most striking features of the flora of the coastal 

 plain in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, is the wealth of 

 woody climbers, which constitute what the Germans term 

 the "liana formation." One need go no further than Nor- 

 folk to assure himself of this fact. In two very different situations 

 are the lianas especially prominent — on the inner sand dunes of the 

 coast, and in the fresh water, wooded swamps. 



A number of such plants are common to both areas, but are 

 usually strikingly different in habit in each. Thus the beautiful 

 Yellow Jessamine {Gelsemiuni), with its shining dark green leaves 

 and sulphur-yellow blossoms, deliciously scented with a distinctly 

 heliotrope fragrance, covers the dunes with a tangled mass of stems, 

 while in swamps it climbs tall trees and opens its flowers high above 

 the ground. Poison Ivy [Rhus radicans) behaves in similar fashion. 

 But, as a rule, the plants of dune and swamp are of different species. 

 The Trumpet Honeysuckle {Louiecra scuipervirens) is most abund- 

 ant upon the dunes, growing there with the Yellow Jessamine, but 

 does not penetrate the deep swamps. Two grapes, the Muscadine 

 {Vitis rotiiJidifolia), and the Summer grape {V. cestivalis), are charac- 

 teristic plants of the dunes, the former, especially, making almost 

 impenetrable the thickets of Myrica that cover the sand hills. Still 

 more effective as impediments travel to are the ubiquitous Green- 

 briars, notably Siiiilax Boiia-nox and S. glauca. Less prominent, but 

 still abundant, is the Virginia Creeper {PartJienoeissus quinqiie folia). 

 In the SAvamps the curious Supple Jack [Bereheniia), not showy 

 of blossom, but very handsome as to foliage and well worthy of culti- 

 vation, ascends the tallest trees, with stems sometimes as large as a 

 man's arm. Among the tree tops the beautiful Cross-vine [Bignonia 

 crucigera), our sole northern representative of a family to which 

 belong many of the showiest of South American lianas, hangs out 

 clusters of large, irregularly bell-shaped flowers, dull red without, 

 yellow within, and faintly odorous of musk. The elegant Deeninaria 

 barbara, our only climber of the Saxifrage family, is an indweller of 

 the deep, shad}' parts of the Great Dismal. 



In more open places, where the sunlight may freely reach it, the 

 delicate lilac-colored blossoms of Clematis crispa are often seen. 



