DECIDUOUS AND EVERGEEEN FORESTS. 47 



frequent inhabitants of the forest-clad swamps of the alluvial district 

 in its lower part. 



Deciduous forests of xerophile trees and shrubs prevail on the dr^' 

 mountain spurs, the table-lands, and the lower hills, the following 

 forming the bulk of the arboreal vegetation : 



QuercHS prinos (inountain oak). Hicoria rillosa (pale-leaf liickorv). 



Querciis velutina (black oak) . Castanea dentaia (chestnut) . 



Quercus marilandica (black jack) . TJlmus australis (Southern rock elm) . 



Quercus cocdnea (scarlet oak) . Acer leucoderme (white-bark majile) . 



Ilicoria glabra (pignut) . Acer sacchariun and variety harbatum. 

 Hicoria alba (mockernut) . (hard maple) . 



Hicoria caroUnae-septenlrionalis (Southern Acer floridanum (Florida maple) . 



shellbark hickory) . Oxydendrum arboreuin (sourwood) 



All of these, except Acer leucoderme^ A. saccharmn harbatv/m^ and 

 A. forldanum^ belong also to the Northern forests. On the arid 

 ridges with a poor siliceous soil Southern pines mingle freely with 

 the hardwoods. 



Evergree)h forests.^ — The evergreen arboreal vegetation forms a most 

 prominent feature of the flora of the State. The 31 species found in 

 Alabama are nearly all distributed throughout the warmer temperate 

 and subtropical regions of eastern North America. In the xerophile 

 forests of the dry uplands the cone-bearing evergreens, embracing 

 six species of pines, one type of the cypress tribe, and the red cedar, 

 hold an important place in the tree-covering of the State, particularly 

 the pines. These cover extensive areas, the long-leaf pine extending 

 almost exclusively and with scarceh^ any interruption over many 

 hundreds of square miles, while short-leaf and loblolly pine form a 

 large element in the forest growth of the northern half of the State. 



Broad-leaved evergreen trees and shrubs in great variet}- of species 

 prevail in the mesophile semiswamp}^ forests of the subtropical zone. 

 In these forests the magnolia, single or in groups, finds its home with 

 the white ba}^ of the same genus, red bay, dahoon holly, yaupon, 

 wax myrtles, ti-ti, American olive or devilwood, leatherwood, and 

 large oaks with persistent leaves (live oak, etc.) or retaining their 

 foliage during the greater part of the winter (laurel oak and water 

 oak). A host of evergreen shrubs — the sweet illicium of the mag- 

 nolia family, azaleas and andromedas of the heather family, holly, and 

 others — form the dense undergrowth. Of conifers, the loblolly pine, 

 with the Southern spruce pine and Cuban pine and, mostly in 

 swampy localities, the white cedar, tower above the broad-leaved 

 forms. The strange-looking Spanish dagger {Yucca aloifolia)^ an 

 arborescent lily, with its trunk covered with rigid sharp-pointed 

 leaves and, in the beginning of the summer season, crowned with 

 ample panicles of snowy white flowers, forms a characteristic feature 

 of the arboreal vegetation of the sands in the coastplain. 



