102 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



Cedw hammocks. On the highest swells of the plain where the 

 strata of the rotten limestone are overlaid by lighter loams poorer in 

 humus, deep, and of perfect drainage, forests prevail of a mixed-tree 

 growth, consisting of the following: 



Fraxinus americana (white ash) . Vlmus americana (white elm) . 



Quercus laurifolia (laurel oak) . Acer saccharum barbatum (small-leaf sugar 



Celtis mississippiensis (hackberry) . maple) . 



Quereus texana (Southern red oak) . Juniperus virginiana (red cedar) . 



Originally the red cedar formed about 30 per cent of the timber 

 growth. The ground beneath is densely shaded by the following: 



Asimina triloba (pawpaw) . Zanthoxylum dava-herculis (Southern 



Ilex decidua (deciduous holly) . prickly ash) . 



Adelia ligustrina (Southern privet) . 



The red cedar of these forests is of most vigorous growth, the 

 smooth trunk free of limb for a height of from 30 to 50 feet and from 

 16 to 20 inches and over in diameter, and less affected by deca} r than 

 in the northern part of the State. These cedar hammocks once 

 formed detached tracts extending over many square miles. At 

 present only a few remnants of them are left, and these are doomed 

 to speedy destruction by the drafts made upon their valuable timber 

 and through the injuries constantly inflicted upon the young growth 

 by live stock. 



MESOPHILE HERBACEOUS PLANT ASSOCIATIONS. 



In the shade of these forests, as observed on the banks of Big Prairie 

 Creek, the herbaceous plant associations are poorly represented by 

 mesophile species more or less common throughout the Carolinian 

 area. Some of the species are: 



Adicea urticaefolia. Vincetoxicum laeve. 



Impatient biftora. Irepocarpus aethusae. 



Thaspium aureum. Diodea multiflora. 



Vincetoxicum (Gonolobus) hirsutum. 



The Trepocarpus is frequent in eastern Texas, but has heretofore 

 been known in the eastern Gulf States only as a fugitive on ballast in 

 several localities. The Diodea has been known from a few localities 

 in Georgia, and especially along the Luxapallila River, near Columbus, 

 Miss., and is abundant in the bottoms of the Mississippi and Yazoo 

 deltas. 



Canebrakes. The most prominent feature in the vegetation of this 

 region consists of the extensive tracts of cane, arborescent grasses of 

 the bamboo tribe, which prevail throughout the depression of the plain. 

 The large cane (Arimdinaria macrosperma) inhabits the alluvial bot- 

 toms more or less submerged for the greater part of the year, and the 

 small or switch cane (A. tecta) prevails in the open as well as in the 



