HAMMOCK LANDS OF COAST PLAIN. 121 



The species of Ascyrum and H^^pericum constitute a characteristic 

 open formation of low shrubs or suffrutescent perennials in the depres- 

 sions surrounding- shallow ponds, most striking during the latter part 

 of the summer while covered with their golden-yellow flowers. Among 

 the earliest appears Hypei'lcuin, myrtifolmm^ followed by H. ojxicum^ 

 and last by 11. asjxdathoides., the most abundant, forming large patches. 

 All are frequent from South Carolina to Mississippi. During the 

 autumn Compositae with their bright j^ellow flowers prevail — for 

 example: 



Helianthus heterophyllus. Coreopsis angustifolia. 



Chondrophora {Bigelov'm) nudata.^ Bidens coronata leptophylla. 



Solidago stricta.^ Baldwinia uniflora. 

 Solidago angustifolia. 



With these come azure-flowered lobelias, such as L. piihemda^ com- 

 mon from the coast of southern New Jersey to Louisiana and in the 

 southern Alleghanies, and L. hrevifolia., ranging from western Florida 

 to Louisiana, and Ruellia noctifloixi., rare on the coast of the Missis- 

 sippi Sound and sparsely scattered through the corresponding region 

 from Louisiana to Georgia and Florida, all more or less frequent in 

 the first pine barrens from North Carolina to Florida and the eastern 

 Gulf States — besides the following: 



Eupatorium leptophyllum. Ladnaria gramimfolia pilosa.^ 



Eupatorium capiUifolium.^ Carphephorus pseudo-liatris. 



Eupatorium linear if olium.^ Trilisa odoratissima.^ 



Eupatorium mohrii. Baldvrinia uniflora. 



Eupatorium semiserraium.^ Gerardia sMnneriana. 



Eupatorium pubescens. ^ Gerardia paupercula. 



Eupatorium verbenaefoliurn.^ Gerardia aphylla. 



Of ferns and their allies BotrycMum ohl/quimi is not rare on exposed 

 grassy knolls and banks, while Ophioglossum crotalophoroides with 

 Lycopodlam carolhiiannm^ preferring moister situations, are truly 

 t3'^pical plants of the coast plain. 



Hammock laiids. — More or less extensive tracts of a black soil, gen- 

 erally well drained, rich in the decayed remains of former vegetations, 

 occur on this second terrace as it skirts the lower river swamps or the 

 low swamps of the tide-water regions. Constantly acted upon by the 

 multitudinous forms of lower animal and plant life — rainworms, snails, 

 centipedes, and a host of bacteria and saprophytic fungi — this soil has 

 become converted into a highly fertile mold, which supports the same 

 luxuriant and diversified vegetation of trees and shrubs, chiefly broad- 

 leaved evergreens, which characterizes the mesophile forests of the 

 Louisianian area generally, to which is added here the live oak, Quercm 

 virglniana., the most attractive and grandest feature in the flora of the 

 coast plain. This oak is a tree of the seacoast. It approaches, in a 

 high state of development, the Carolinian area near the northern limit 



1 Found also in Carolinian area. ^ The vanilla plant, or deer tongue. 



