FOKESTS OF MOIST AND SWAMPY PINE BARRENS. 125 



sede it on ground slightly above the ordinary water level. Black gum, 

 water oak, water hickor}', green ash, more rarely Southern red oak, 

 elm, black cottonwood, and overcup oak of rather stunted growth 

 form the high forest overshadowing the smaller trees, of which the 

 most conspicuous are planer tree, red maple, hornbeam, Crataegus 

 viridis^ C. elliptica^ and the apple haw { Crataegus aestivalis). This 

 haw was observed on the Hooded banks of Davids Lake, a large inlet 

 of Mobile River, with a slender stem fulh^ 30 feet high. It unfolds 

 its flowers during the first days of spring (early in February) and ripens 

 its highly palatable, fine-flavored fruit in the beginning of April. Sty- 

 rax amerlcana., Osmmithusamericanus., Ilex decidua ., Ilex lo?igij?es, 'parsley 

 haw ( Crataegus apiifolia) form the shrubby undergrowth. The hand- 

 some silverbells, the dahoon holly, and the swamp dogwood occupy 

 the drier outskirts of these swamps. In their intei'ior the blue palmetto 

 reaches its perfection, the trunk rising from 2 to 3 feet above the 

 ground, the fan-shaped leaves with their stalks 8 to 10 feet long. 

 Black willow and cottonwood cover the recent alluvium. But a small 

 number of paludial plants are found in the depths of these swamps, viz: 



Onoclea seuKibilis.^ Peltandra virgmicd.^ 



Osmunda regalls.^ Hymenocallis occidentalis.^ 



Woodwardia virginica. ' 



In the openings the shallow pools are filled with — 



Carex slipata maxima. Homalocenchrus virginicus.^ 



Carex vulpinoidea} Polygonum jxyrtoricense. 



Homalocoirhrus oryzokles.^ Saururus eernuus (lizard's tail).' 



Add to these, where the shade is deep, Azolla caroliniana and a fine 

 Riccia in circular tufts w^hich float on the surface. On the ground 

 above the overflow are found — 



Cyperus dissitiflonis, Sabbatia calycina,^ 



Panicum gymnocarpum, Bidens mvolucrata, ^ 



Gyrostachys odorata,^ Erianthus strictus, 

 Hypericum nudiflorum, 



the last on the exposed borders of the pools. 



Paludial and rnesoplule forests of the pine harrens. — Descending 

 from the rolling hills to the flats of the coast plain the pine-barren 

 streams overflow their low Ixmks of shifting sands and gravel. In 

 general the tree covering remains unaltered. When the soil is more 

 deeply submerged, the pond cypress and white cedar prevail over the 

 white bay, magnolias, etc., and where the water is more shallow and 

 the ground less oozy Osmantkus amerlcanus., Myrlca inodora., and Ilex 

 caroliniana are more frequent than among the hills. The miry spaces 

 between the roots of the trees, which in these wooded shallow swamps 

 run partially above the ground, are filled with peat mosses and the 

 moss-like tufts of Mayaca aiMetii and studded with coarse ferns — 

 Osmunda cimiainomea., O. regalis^ Woodwardia angustifolia^ and W. 



^ Found also in the Carolinian area. 



