A midsummer journey through the coastal plain of the Carolinas and 
Virginia 
Rotanp M. HarPER 
INTRODUCTION 
In discussing the vegetation of the Atlantic coastal plain, a 
territory about ten times as long as wide, it becomes expedient to 
divide the region transversely into several districts of convenient 
size. For this purpose there are probably no_ better natural 
boundaries than the large rivers which rise in the highlands and 
cross the whole width of the coastal plain.* That portion be- 
tween the James River and the Savannah, embracing the whole of 
the coastal plain of the Carolinas and about half that of Virginia, 
may conveniently be treated as a unit, since these two rivers seem 
to mark the divisions between perceptibly different parts of the 
coastal plain, and as far as known there is no other boundary of 
equal importance lying between them. 
The Savannah River coincides pretty closely with the boun- 
dary between the topographically diversified and the comparatively 
monotonous portions of the coastal plain, as shown below, while 
the James seems to mark the northeastern limit of Pinus palustris, 
P. serotina, Aristida stricta, Quercus Catesbaei, and numerous other 
characteristic pine-barren plants. (There is, however, almost 
nothing on record about the flora of the coastal plain of Virginia 
north of the James River, doubtless chiefly because most of the 
counties in that part of the state have never had railroad facilities. ) 
he James and its tributary, the Appomattox, are the southern- 
most rivers whose estuaries extend all the way across the coastal 
plain. | 
The region in question has bee 
botanists and other observers for 
consequently a considerable amount of in 
n worked over more or less by 
200 years or so, and there is 
formation about the 
ee (Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. 
* A similar method has been employed by McG 
though his resulting districts do 
12!: 360-364. 1892) in discussing the topography, 
not coincide with mine. 
351 
