96 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



Of arboreal formations the peach, tig, pear, plum, pomegranate, 

 and, in sheltered situations, the sweet and bitter orange and loquat, or 

 Japanese medlar are cultivated, and also the grape. These fruits are, 

 however, not yet planted sufficiently to form large orchards. 



REGION OF THE CENTRAL PINE BELT. 



Physiographical features. A belt of sands and pebbles crosses the 

 State almost centrally in a southeastern and northwestern direction 

 and separates the Paleozoic formation from the more recent sedimentary 

 (Mesozoic) strata. This belt, varying from about 10 to a little over 

 35 miles in width, extends from Russell County to a short distance 

 west of Tuscaloosa County, where, with a sudden bend toward the 

 north, it merges into the Lower Hills, which are clad with a mixed 

 forest of short-leaf pine and upland hard-wood trees. Between the 

 water courses the undulating surface frequently spreads out into 

 more or less level table-lands. 



Xerophile and mesophile forests. Wherever the sandy loam forming 

 the surface soil becomes deeper, the long-leaf pine is associated with 

 post oak, Spanish oak, black oak, black-jack, pignut, and mockernut 

 hickory, and where the more siliceous soil prevails the long-leaf pine 

 alone forms continuous forests of a heavy timber growth, which furnish 

 the supplies demanded by the active lumber industry established along 

 the railroad lines traversing this belt. 



Entering this region at the northern border, the turkey or barren 

 oak and the blue jack make their appearance and are frequent com- 

 panions of the long-leaf pine of the dry -pine barrens farther south; 

 and of evergreen shrubs and trees, which line the streams throughout 

 the maritime pine belt, the sweet illicium (lllieium floridanum), ti-ti 

 ( C'liftoniamonophylla), and red bay (Persea Carolina) are here met with. 

 The limbs of the large trees, shading their banks, are now invested with 

 the somber gray drapery of Spanish moss, and this, together with the 

 appearance of the dwarf or blue palmetto (Sabal adansonii) and arbor- 

 escent lilies ( Yucca aloifolia, Y. filamentosa), indicates that the sub- 

 tropical region of the State has been entered. On the southern border 

 of this central pine belt, in localities with a fresh moist soil, the 

 magnolia is found from Russell County, at the eastern confine of the 

 State, to Prattville and to York Station on the western boundary. 

 The northern limit of the Southern spruce pine (Pinus glahra) proceeds 

 very nearly along the same line. 



Xerophile and mesophile herbaceous plant associations. The follow- 

 ing herbaceous plants of the Louisianian area find their northern limit 

 in this region and are but occasionally found to obtrude beyond it 



