14 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



features of the vegetation prevailing in the floral regions traversed. 

 He passed through the subtropical zone, recognized by the long wreaths 

 of the Spanish moss investing the huge limbs of venerable evergreen 

 oaks (the laurel oak, mentioned by him as Quercus hemispkaerica\ and 

 huge magnolias, with the Cretaceous plain before him, which the trav- 

 eler describes as a country with a rich black soil resting upon a chalky 

 testaceous limestone clad with tall grasses and a variety of other herb- 

 age, most conspicuous among it tall rosin weeds (Silphium), with their 

 large spikes of golden } r ellow flowers and a resinous substance exuding 

 from the bruises and splits of the stem; beyond the plains a broken 

 ground of hills and vales covered with forests of stately trees locust 

 (designated as Robinia, but most likely the honey locust), linden, mul- 

 berry,elm, hickory, and black walnut, with the Southern crab apple, dog- 

 wood, and redbud for the smaller tree growth; further south a generally 

 level plain, with a lighter soil, pebbles and sand mixing with the surface 

 soil, covered with an open forest of oak, hickories, ash, red buckeye, 

 and the smaller trees mentioned above, associated with an abundance 

 of chestnut 1 and with pines (Pinus lutea, i. e., short-leaf pine, Pi nut 

 echinata) interrupted by expansive cane meadows and detached groves, 

 in strong contrast with the gravelly and rocky hills and vales support- 

 ing the forests mentioned above. The traveler speaks enthusiastically 

 of the dense cool groves of dogwood and of the fragrant groves of 

 sweet illicium and odorous calycanthus or spicewood covering the 

 higher banks of the streams, together with the beautiful /yWr.v/V/ dip- 

 tera (silver bells, Mohrodendron), stuartia, storax bushes, azaleas, and 

 particularly Magnolia, auriculata (undoubtedly meaning May n< din 

 macrophylld), all overtowered by the stately large-flowered magnolia 

 (Magnolia foetida). Across the Shambee (Escambia) River the coun- 

 try is described as low and open, descending for the next 80 miles 

 to the southeast, exhibiting a landscape different from others, not 

 unlike the low country of the Carolinas, consisting of grassy savan- 

 nas, intersected by narrow forests along the water courses, hummocks, 

 and swamps, with long-leaved pines " scatteringly planted among the 

 grass, associated on the higher knolls and swells with barren oaks," 

 the rivulets running swiftly over their gravelly beds, their banks 

 adorned with evergreen andromedas, American olive, illicium, hollies. 

 sweet bay, and azaleas. Descending to the lowlands toward the bay 

 of Mobile, "cane swamps alternate with pine-clad knolls." Tensas, 

 situated on the eastern arm of the great Mobile River, on a high bluff, 

 about 30 miles above Fort Conde and the city of Mobile, was reached 

 in the early days of August (1777). After a short visit to Mobile 

 Bartram returned to Tensas, where he obtained a canoe and explored 



1 The existence of the chestnut in the Upper Division of the Coast Pine belt is at 

 present in some parts onlv indicated by the larirc s-tuuips, which have during the long 

 periods of time resisted decay. 



