l'J4 PLANT LIKK <>F ALAHAMA. 



and tlow of llic tide, witul llicir wa\ to llic inlets of the (Julf. 'l'li«» 

 line sand forming' the siirl'aci' as well as llic subsoil is closely packed, 

 pcrmittinu" the water to penneatt^ but .slowly, and in consequence is 

 overtlowed alter e\ ci y rainfall. The great poverty of the soil is mani- 

 fest in the stunti'd irrowth of i)ines .scatt«>re(l over these flats and the 

 dwarfed cypre.ss and white cedar lining the .sandy l)aidvs of the .streams. 

 The surface is exsiccated during the dry summer sea.son, and supports 

 a scant V growth of poverty gras.ses, particularly Arisfithi i^plciforinw 

 \\.\\^ A. iHiJiixfi'ix^ and the toothache grass {('(impaloxius aromaticiui)., 

 with its stout aromatic rootstock deeply buried in the compacted 

 .sand, with which are found Sclei-la t(»Teya)ia and L'd'iuin catesbaei^ 

 and, during the late autumnal rains, the rare Gyrostachys hrevifolia^ 

 known also from western Florida. 



Piihididl (irhnrmJ ass<)cl<(t!(»ix {cyprexn hrak<?.s). — The bottom lands of 

 the Mobile River and the islands in the delta, overflowed at every 

 freshet, are covered with a high forest of deciduous trees, common to 

 them and the lowlands of the .same character along the Tombigbeeand 

 Alal)ama rivers in theircour.se through the Louisianian area. Where 

 the l)anks aie almost perpetually submerged they are covered with 

 C3'press. This largest of the Atlantic forest trees was formerly found 

 in the upper part of the river delta in great perfection. The mighty 

 trunks rise to a total height of from 100 to 120 feet and over, with a 

 diameter, measured above the l)uttrcsses w^hich expand the ba.ses, of from 

 3 to over 5 feet. The annual rings of grow'th are extremely narrow 

 and diflacult to count. On close investigation the age of full-grown 

 trees can be estimated to var}" betw'een 300 and 500 years. They are 

 the sole survivors in this part of the North American continent of an 

 archaic t^pe. The assemblage of these monarchs of the forest in the 

 compact cypress brak(\ surrounded b^^ the peculiar cone-shaped 

 excrescences (cypress knees) rising from their roots 1 to 2 feet and more 

 above the dark unruffled surface of the water, presents a feature in 

 the ar})oreal flora of the present at once strange and iniposing. As a 

 result of the large demand for their valuable tim])er, the resources of 

 these brakes in the delta and on the lower Alabama and Tombigbee 

 rivers have been almost exhausted, and in this district the manufac- 

 ture of cypress lum])er has at present nearly ceased. The supplies of 

 this timber nee Jed for the manufacture of C3'press shingles at Mobile 

 are at present mo.stly drawn from the more remote brakes on the 

 rivers named and their principal tributaries along their lower course. 

 In these brakes the tupelo gum (Ay.v.sffl aquatica) is the only associate 

 of the cypress, which it rivals in size, and the Carolina swamp ash is 

 the only tree of small size thriving in the gloomy shade beneath these 

 trees. 



In the mire of the swamps above the level of long-continued overflows 

 a variet}" of hard-Avood trees mingle with the cypress and Anally super- 



