A VISIT TO SMITH ISLA:ND 



By W. C. Coker 



Smitli Island is often referred to but rarely visited by jSTortli Caro- 

 linians. As a far-flmig ontpost of subtropical vegetation it is, per- 

 haps, the most unique botannical possession of a State that can exhibit 

 within its borders a range of plant life that would seem quite at home 

 in Florida on the one hand and in Labrador on the other. 



The island is not easily accessible and has been visited by few bot- 

 anists. In Timber Trees and Forests of N^orth Carolina (Bull. No. 

 6, ]^. C. Geol. Survey. 1897), by Pinchot and Ashe, there is a fine 

 photograph of palmettos from the island. Mr. Ashe informs me that 

 this photo was made by him and that he knows of no other botanist 

 having visited Smith Island. 



On April 5th last I and two of my students, Mr. Couch and Mr. 

 Vogler, went over to the island in a launch from Southport and spent 

 most of the day. We knew, of course, that there were true palmettos 

 there, but were greatly surprised at their vast numbers and large 

 average size. They were everywhere, and as the island is large their 

 numbers must run easily into the fives or tens of thousands. As they 

 stand naturally scattered in the thick forest growth their number does 

 not impress one so forcibly, but in the cleared strips that extend across 

 the island at regular intervals and in which the owner has had the 

 good judgment to leave the palmettoes, they stand in impressive 

 groves, unhidden by other vegetation, and reminding one of the best 

 groves of the Florida coast (Pis. 10, 11, 12). Many of the trees were 

 twenty to twenty-five feet high, and not a few were thirty feet. Un- 

 fortunately, many of the palms had been killed and many others 

 injured by the coldest winter in about forty years. About half( ?), 

 however, have withstood the shock. 



The herbaceous flora was hardly beginning its growth, as the spring 

 had been a cold one, and we found little or nothing in flower among 

 such plants except a few weeds. Besides two ferns (southern polyp- 

 ody, which was common, and ebony spleenwort, which was rare) our 

 records were confined almost entirely to woody plants. An interest- 

 ing exception was the discovery of the sub-tropical cactus Opuntia 



150 



