258 THE STUDY OF PLANT COMMUNITIES ■ Chapter X 



habitats raised somewhat above surrounding wetter areas. Over 

 much of Florida their dominants suggest postclimax to oak-hick- 

 ory, but toward the southern tip of the state, the species are more 

 and more subtropical. 



Any shallow depression in the flatland of the lower coastal plain 

 fills with water. Permanent standing water results in open 



FlG. 130. A4aritime live oak forest (Quercus virginiana) on Smith's Island, 

 N. C. Once characteristic of the banks and islands of the south Atlantic and 

 Gulf Coast, much of it has been destroyed because of neglect. Note the 

 dunes at right, which were once forested.— Photo by C. F. Korstian. 



marshes, 198 sometimes miles in extent, dominated by rushes and 

 grasses. If flooding is not continuous, subclimax swamp forests de- 

 velop. Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), which dominates 

 where water normally stands most of the year, occupies stream 

 and lake margins or entire lakes to the exclusion of other trees. 

 Gum swamps are usually flooded only seasonally. Nyssa bi flora 

 and Nyssa aquatica are the important species, 114 with ash (Fraxinus 

 profunda, F. caroliniana), bald cypress, and red maple as associates. 

 The less the flooding, the greater the number of pocosin species 

 that may be present. 16 



Still another forest of undrained areas is formed by Chamaecy- 

 paris thyoides, which occurs on peat bogs where it apparently be- 

 comes established only after fire occurs when the water table is 



