322 



General Botany 



Fig. 



U.S. Forest Service 



[99. Bald cypress swamp near Memphis, Tennessee. Note cypress knees at the 



left. During the wet season the water covers the area nearly to the tops of the knees. 



degrees. The relative humidity is high. The rainfall varies 

 from 60 inches along the coast to 44 inches inland. At the coast 

 this amounts to about i .3 times the evaporation ; at the inner 

 edge of the Coastal Plain it is i.i times the evaporation. Snow- 

 falls occur at rare intervals, but killing frosts occur over most 

 of the area every year. For the most part, the soils are loose 

 and arranged in belts parallel to the coast, except the alluvial 

 deposits which extend up the Mississippi and other large rivers. 

 The climate is favorable for a broadleaf evergreen forest, but 

 the poor soils of the Coastal Plain are better suited to the conifers 



