100 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



these uplands, which, being rich in humus, as a result of the reaction 

 of its calcareous constituents upon vegetable matter, closely resembles 

 the equally productive soil of the western treeless prairies. Before 

 its settlement by whites this region was largely covered by forests of 

 a decidedly mesophile character, mostly of hardwood trees, in some 

 localities mixed with red cedar. On the fertile uplands the forest has 

 been almost entirely removed; the bottoms of the Alabama and Tom- 

 bigbee rivers and their largest tributaries, where subject to overflow, 

 are still heavily timbered with a mesophile growth of cow oak, over- 

 cup oak (Quercus lyratd), laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia), water oak, 

 red or sweet gum in such perfection as this tree attains only in the 

 Atlantic forests of the lower latitudes beech, mockernut (Plicoria 

 alba), and bitternut hickory (Hicoria minima], all draped with Spanish 

 moss. A fine elm is also frequently met with here of a sturdy growth, 

 often fully 2 feet in diameter, the branchlets covered with corky flat 

 expansions of the bark. Although not seen in flower or fruit this 

 tree certainly is distinct from the white elm ( Ulmus americana], and 

 is doubtless identical with the Southern white elm lately discovered by 

 Messrs. Sargent and Canby near Huntsville, and described in the suc- 

 ceeding catalogue. With the rise of the land above overflow, tulip 

 trees, linden, mulberry, stately magnolias, hackberry, and red bay 

 (Persea borbonica) mingle with the trees of the bottom. The diversity 

 of the arboreal vegetation increases further on the broad swells of the 

 uplands with a rich dark soil, as is apparent from the rather scanty 

 remains of their tree covering observed between Uniontown and De- 

 mopolis. On these rich uplands the Texas white oak ( Quercus Iweviloba), 

 commonly known in this section as pin oak, is found most frequent and 

 in the same perfection as in the rich bottom lands of southern Texas, 

 rivaling in size the common white oak. This beautiful oak is at once 

 recognized by the diverse shapes of the leaves, which frequently vary 

 on the same tree from oblong-lanceolate and entire to broadly ovate or 

 obovate and obtusely three-lobed at the apex; and also by the small 

 fruit. The post oak, in its best-developed state, is frequently associated 

 with the above. Black walnut, frequently mentioned in the records 

 of earlier times, is at present extremely scarce; in fact, as a timber 

 tree it has disappeared from these forests. The pecan (Hicoria pecan) 

 and nutmeg hickory (Hicoria myristicaeformis) are frequently scat- 

 tered among the oaks throughout the woodlands of this region in the 

 basin of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers. There can be no doubt 

 about the pecan being indigenous to this region, although heretofore 

 not regarded as a native of the eastern Gulf region outside of the 

 Mississippi and Yazoo deltas. Groves of full-grown trees, which must 

 have been in existence before the arrival of the first white settlers, are 

 remembered by very old inhabitants. A few of these landmarks of 

 the original forest growth still survive, surrounded by their offspring 



