Hill: Penobscot Vegetation 433 



Hawes. Xot only should the entire Penobscot Bay region 

 be thus designated as belonging to the "spruce" region, but 

 also most of the territory between the Kennebec and Penob- 

 scot Rivers, at least along the coast. As a matter of fact 

 all this "spruce" region of New England, with the exception 

 of the upper slopes of Mt. Katahdin and the higher White 

 and Green Mountains, should better be classed as "spruce- 

 northern hardwoods", since this type of forest is the re- 

 gional climax for the area. 



VI. SUMMARY 



The Penobscot Bay region in Maine is situated on 1 1 1 « ■ 

 coast about midway between the eastern and the western 

 boundaries of the state. The region is a rugged one with 

 the characteristics of a drowned coast. The soils are chief- 

 ly of glacial origin but are very meagre, and the underlying 

 rocks control the topography. The latter are predomi- 

 nantly acidic, granite being of most frequent occurrence. 

 The climate is that of any moist maritime north temperate 

 region. 



From the standpoint of its vegetation the Penobscot Bay 

 region is a part of the Canadian-transition zone of the 

 Transition Forest region, the northernmost of the two zones 

 of the intermediate area between the eastern deciduous and 

 the northeastern coniferous forest regions. The climax for- 

 est of this zone, and of the Penobscot Bay region as well, is 

 a mixed forest of both deciduous and coniferous species, the 

 "spruce-northern hardwoods" of the lumbermen. The 

 characteristic trees include Acer saccharum, Fagus grandi- 

 folia, Tsuga canadensis. Bet/da lutea, Pin/is Strobus, Abies 

 balsamea, Picea mariana and Picea rubra. The shrubby 

 undergrowth consists primarily of Acer pennsylvanicum, 

 Acer spicatum and Viburnum alnifolium; while on the for- 

 est floor many northern herbaceous species occur. This 

 forest, which constitutes the regional climax association- 



