256 THE STUDY OF PLANT COMMUNITIES ■ Chapter X 



maintains pine dominance, usually in open stands, called savannahs, 

 with the highly combustible wire grass (Aristida stricta), for 

 ground cover. These stands owe their origin and maintenance to 

 their resistance to fire. 53a If protected from fire, they would un- 

 questionably be replaced by oak-hickory dominated forest. 269 No 

 extensive areas exist where fire has been excluded for more than a 



FlG. 128. Interior of a Florida hammock. 



relatively few years. The successional evidence is clear enough, 

 however, and pine in the coastal plain must therefore be classed as 

 a fire-maintained subclimax within the oak-hickory association. 



A possible preclimax is the scrub oak-hickory forest found on 

 sand dunes near the coast and inland. Turkey oak (Quercus cates- 

 baei), margarete oak (Q. margaretta), blue jack (Q. cinerea) and 

 black jack oak (Q. marilandica) are dominants. Wire grass may 

 be present, but often the sand is bare, glaring white in the sun, 



