THE FLORA OF MISSISSIPPI. 147 



at times the surface becomes rolling and even hilly. The 

 characteristic feature, however, is its flatness, which has 

 caused it to be likened to a broad river valley. The flat- 

 woods extend as a north and south belt three to fifteen 

 miles wide bordering the west side of Pontotoc Ridge and 

 the limestone prairies. (See map.) 



The soil is prevailingly a heavy tenaceous dark gray 

 clay with a subsoil of gray joint clay. The drainage is 

 usually not good, so that the soil, except in dry years, is 

 wet and cold. The streams are sluggish and overflow 

 readily after heavy rains. 



The flora of this region has received little attention 

 so far, but from a general impression received (no notes 

 having been taken by the Geological Survey) the flora 

 corresponds rather closeh' with that of the Plateau region 

 lying west of it. There seems to be a much closer simi- 

 larity between this flora and that of the upland flora to 

 the west than between this and the flora of Pontotoc Ridge. 

 The tree growth of the higher lands of the Flatwoods con- 

 sists of post oak {Quercus stellata), black jack {Q. nigra), 

 Spanish oak {Q. falcata), pine {Pinus taeda and P. mitts), 

 an occasional black gum {Nyssa sylvatica) and hickory 

 {Carya tomentosa). Shrubs are not very plentiful, but 

 haws {Crataegus apiifolia, C. Crus-galli and other species) 

 are rather common. Vaccinium arboreiim and Prunus 

 Americana are occasional. 



On the bottoms the growth is Spanish oak {Otiercus 

 falcata), larger and taller than on the higher lands, abundant 

 hickory of several species, the shell-bark {Carya alba) 

 being plentiful, yellow poplar {Liriodendron tulipifera), 

 black gum {A^yssa sylvatica), sweet gum {Liquidambar 

 styraciflua) , willow and water oak {Quercus phellos and 

 Q. aquaticus), and beech {Fagus ferruginea). 



The herbaceous species lave not been noted with suf- 

 ficient care to justify listing, but almost certainly corre- 

 spond rather closely with the herbaceous flora of the 

 region lying to the west, which will be next described. 



North-Central Plateau. — This region is much larger 

 than any of those so far considered. It occupies all that 



