4 FOREST TREES OF NORTH AMERICA. 



water sheds, and reach a higher latitude than any other arborescent species of the continent; the valleys and 

 wide bottoms are clothed with broad sheets of poplars, dwarf birches, and willows. The forest of this entire 

 region is scattered, open, stunted, and of no great economic value. It embraces, south of the sixtieth degree of 

 north latitude, the northern extension of the great midcontinental plateau, which will be considered hereafter. 



South of the Northern Forest the Northern Pine Belt extends from the Atlantic coast to the ninety-sixth meridian 

 of longitude ; east of the Apalachiau Mountain system it extends south over nearly 6 degrees of latitude, with a 

 long, narrow spur following the higher Alleghany ridges for nearly 3 degrees farther south ; west of the Alleghany 

 mountains, in the region of the great lakes, the pine forest is replaced south of the forty- third degree of latitude by 

 the deciduous growth of the Mississippi basin. This second division of the Atlantic forest may be characterized 

 by the white pine (Pinus Strobus}, its most important, if not its most generally-distributed, species. East of the 

 Apalachian system this tree often forms extensive forests upon the gravelly drift plain of the Saint Lawrence 

 basin, or farther south and west appears in isolated groves, often of considerable extent, scattered through the 

 deciduous forest. Forests of black spruce are still an important feature of this region, especially at the north, 

 and within its boundaries the hemlock, the yellow cedar, the basswood, the black and the white ash, the sugar 

 maple, and several species of birch and elm find their northern limits and the center of their most important 

 distribution. The hickories and the oaks, characteristic features of the deciduous forests of all the central 

 portion of the Atlantic region, reach here the northern limits of their distribution, as do the chestnut, the 

 sassafras, the tulip tree, the magnolia, here represented by a single species, the red cedar, the tupelo, the sycamore, 

 the beech, and other important genera. 



The Southern Maritime Pine Belt extends from the thirty-sixth degree of north latitude along the coast in a 

 narrow belt, varying from one hundred to two hundred miles in width, as far south as cape Malabar and Tampa bay ; 

 it stretches across the Florida peninsula and along the coast of the gulf of Mexico until the alluvial deposits of the 

 Mississippi are encountered; it reappears west of that river in Louisiana, north and south of the Bed river, and 

 here gradually mingles with the deciduous forests of the Mississippi basin in Arkansas and eastern Texas. This 

 belt is well characterized by the almost continuous growth, outside of the broad river bottoms and the immediate 

 neighborhood of the coast, by the open forest of the long-leaved pine (P. palu'stris). The live oak, the palmetto, 

 and various species of pine characterize the coast forest of this region; through the river bottoms and along the 

 borders of the shallow ponds, scattered through the pine forest, different gums, water oaks, hickories, and 

 ashes attain noble dimensions. The southern cypress (Taxodium), although extending far beyond the limits of 

 this natural division, here attains its greatest development and value, and, next to the long-leaved pine, may be 

 considered the characteristic species of the maritime pin* belt. 



The Deciduous Forest of the Mississippi Basin and the Atlantic Plain occupies, with two unimportant exceptions 

 to be considered hereafter, the remainder of the Atlantic region. Through this deciduous forest, where peculiar 

 geological features have favored the growth of Coniferce, belts of pine, growing gregariously or mixed with oaks 

 and other broad-leaved trees, occur, especially upon some portions of the Atlantic plain and toward the limits of 

 the Southern Maritime Pine Belt, west of the Mississippi river. The characteristic features of the forest of this 

 whole region are found, however, in the broad-leaved species of which it is largely composed. Oaks, hickories, 

 walnuts, magnolias, and ashes give variety and value to this forest, and here, with the exception of a few species 

 peculiar to a more northern latitude, the deciduous trees of the Atlantic region attain their greatest development 

 and value. Upon the slopes of the southern Alleghany mountains and in the valley of the lower lied river, regions 

 of copious rainfall and rich soil, the deciduous forest of the continent attains unsurpassed variety and richness. 

 Upon the Alleghany mountains northern and southern species are mingled, or are only separated by the altitude 

 of these mountains ; rhododendrons, laurels, and magnolias, here attaining their maximum development, enliven the 

 forests of northern pines and hemlocks which clothe the flanks of these mountains or are scattered through forests 

 of other broad leaved species. The cherry, the tulip tree, and the chestnut here reach a size unknown in other 

 parts of the country. The forest of the Bed River valley is hardly less varied. The northern species which the 

 elevation of the Alleghauy mountains has carried south are wanting, but other species peculiar to the southern 

 Atlantic and Gulf coasts are here mingled with plants of the southern deciduous forest. The seven species of 

 Carya (the hickories) are nowhere else closely associated. A great variety of the most important oaks grow here 

 side by side ; here is the center of distribution of the North American hawthorns, which do not elsewhere attain 

 such size and beauty. The osage orange is peculiar to this region; the red cedar, the most widely distributed of 

 American Coniferas, the southern and the yellow pine (Pinus palustris and mitis) here reach their best development. 

 Just outside of this region, upon the " bluff 1 ' formation of the lower Mississippi valley and of western Louisiana, the 

 stately southern magnolia, perhaps the most beautiful of the North American trees, and the beech assume their 

 greatest beauty, and give a peculiar charm to this southern forest. 



The western third of the Atlantic region is subjected to very different climatic conditions from those prevailing 

 in the eastern portion of the continent ; it consists of an elevated plateau which falls away from the eastern base of 

 the Rocky mountains, forming what is known as the Great Plains. This great interior region, on account of its 

 remoteness from natural reservoirs of moisture, receives a meager and uncertain rainfall, sufficient to insure a 

 growth of herbage, but not sufficient to support, outside the narrow bottoms of the infrequent streams, the scantiest 



