88 RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN ALABAMA. 



largely of coarse grasses, sedges and rushes. The station- 

 ary dunes nearest the sea have little or no grass, but 

 instead a sparse growth of gnarled evergreen small 

 trees and shrubs, while some that lie a mile or so inland 

 and are more protected from the wind have a more luxuriant 

 vegetation of the hammock type. Damp sandy flats among 

 and behind the dunes are sometimes wooded with slender 

 slash pines, among which in places supplied with fresh wa- 

 ter may be a dense growth of tyty and other tall evergreen 

 shrubs. On the loamy shores of bays and estuaries, and 

 on and near shell mounds, are a few trees that prefer richer 

 soil, such as cedar and sweet gum, and often a few legumi- 

 nous plants (which are generally conspicuous by their ab- 

 sence on the white sand of the old dunes). Fire is a negli- 

 gible factor in the coast strip, partly because in most places 

 there is not enough grass to carry a fire, and partly because 

 the area is so cut up by waterways that even if a fire should 

 start it would not have a chance to spread very far. 



It is hard to draw a sharp line between the coast strip 

 and the pine hills, and also to determine the relative abund- 

 ance of the different species of plants in such a small and 

 diversified area ; but the following list is based on the dunes, 

 salt marshes and shell mounds, and a few hammocks, 

 swamps, and pine flats mingled with them. The writer's 

 observations in this strip have been chiefly confined to Bald- 

 win County, but the corresponding part of Mobile County 

 probably differs very little. 



Commonest plants of coast strip. 



TIMBER TREES. 



Pinus Taeda Short-leaf pine Bay shores mostly. 



Pinus Elliottii?* Slash pine Damp flats. 



Nyssa biflora Black gum _ Swampy spots. 



Quercus Virginiana Live oak _ Bay snores mostly. 



Magnolia grandiflora Magnolia Hammocks. 



Juniperus Virginiana Cedar _ Bay shores and shell 



mounds. 



Quercus nigra Water oak Low woods. 



Liquidambar Styraci- 



flua _ Sweet gum Bay shores mostly. 



Hicoria glabra Hickory Hammocks. 



Taxodium distichum Cypress Swampy spots. 



Quercus laurifolia ~ _ Hammocks. 



Acer rubrum Red maple Swampy spots. 



Pinus clausa ....Spruce pine Stationary dunes. 



Taxodium imbricarium Cypress Swampy spots. 



Magnolia glauca (White) bay Swampy spots. 



*P. Caribaea probably occurs here also, if that is a distinct species. 



