W'l ri.ANT LIIK <>K AI.AMAMA. 



7//' rnlllni/ pint ii/thind-s nr drif jmu hiimtis. 



X< roji/ill, f<n'r.'<fx.- Oil tlic liills and liroad swells of the tal)l('-liinds 

 tlir l()iiir-lt>uf pinr roigns suproiiio. The iiif^li fon'st is almost bare 

 of uiuliTorowtii and its monotony is frrciucntiy unbroken for lonj^ 

 distances, no otiier trees or shrubs appearinj,*- anionj^ the tail trunks of 

 the pine, wliicli spread their gnarled limbs at a heijrht of from 40 to 

 ♦ ;.") feet above the onmnd. It is oidy in the aeeidontal openings of the 

 f()n>st that a second growth of the predominating species takes posses- 

 sion of the giound. which, if interfered with by human agency, is 

 rej)lace<l by l)lack jack and Spanish oaks, not rarely accompanied by the 

 dogwood (rW/v/'/.s- fforldi) and the ghmduhir smnmer havf {Crtitaegrts 

 cUij)tic(i). This last, which is a pretty tree from 20 to 25 feet high, 

 ranir*'"^ from South Carolina to Mississippi, and in Alabama appears to 

 be contined to this region.' On the sterile ridges deeply covered with 

 the mantle of loose white sands, which hide the sandy loams of the 

 La Fayette strata, the long-leaf pine becomes stunted and is more or 

 less replaced l)v the l)arren or turkey oak and l)lue jack, trees rather 

 below medium size, often dwarfed and scrubby; and among the latter 

 are dispersed — 



Vaccinium siamineum. Gdijlussada cJnmo.vi. 



Vnccinium myrsinilen. Asimina parvifora . 



Vaccinium mijrsinites glaucum. Ceratiolo errcoideK. 



The last of these shrubs, representing the Empetraceae, which gener- 

 ally inhabit the boreal zone, resembles in its foliage and habit a large 

 heather (Erica). It is truly characteristic of the arid pine ])arrens 

 from Florida and adjacent parts of Georgia to ^lississippi, and in 

 Alabama it reaches its northern limit of vegetation near the northern 

 border of the Maritime Pine belt. The pine forests are open, the 

 crowns of the trees scarcely touching one another. Ow4ng to the 

 poorly timbered ridges of scrubby oaks and the extensive swampy or 

 boggv Hats ecjually unfavorable to the development of a heavy timber 

 growth, the timber standing in the lower division of the Coast Pine 

 V)elt is considerably less in proportion to area than that found in the 

 upper division. 



On the better class of pine lands the quality of the timber is scarcely 

 surpassed, as evinced by a close investigation of the timber resources 

 of the rolling pine uplands near Wallace, Escambia County, which 

 can be considered a tj^pical district.^ 



The forests of long-leaf pine of this Lower Pine region furnish prin- 

 cipally the enormous supplies of timber used by the sawmills situated 

 in the tide-water region of Alabama and western Florida, with Mobile 



^ The specific character of this tree does not fully agree with the rather obscure 

 type and it may on nearer investigation prove distinct. 



" Bulletin 16, Division of Forestry, TJ. S. Department of Agriculture, 1896, ]). 3S. 



