110 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



in the times of the heaviest freshets, is covered with a valuable hard- 

 wood timber growth of cow oak, Spanish oak, Texas or Southern 

 red oak, white ash, honey locust, and mockernut hickory, destined to 

 furnish large supplies for the future. On the almost perpetually 

 submerged banks of both of these rivers a fine timber growth of bald 

 cypress frequently forms brakes of considerable extent, occasionally 

 accompanied by the tupelo gum. 



It can be safely asserted that fully one-half of the area of this region 

 is under cover of the long-leaf pine, and that in their timber wealth 

 these forests surpass by far the pine forests of the lower division of 

 the Maritime Pine belt. From estimates made in various districts it 

 appears that fully 6,000 feet of merchantable timber can be with safety 

 assumed as the average yield per acre. 



Mesophile herbaceous plant associations. The following herbaceous 

 plants, extending hither from the mountain region, find here their 

 southern limits: 



Calycocarpum lyoni. Frasera carolinensis. 



Cebaiha Carolina. Physalis ciliosa. 



Gypripedium hirsutum. Physalis Virginian 

 Arisaema dracontium. 



Vmcetoxicum baldwin&i, one of the rarest of Southern plants, else- 

 where known only from a few localities in middle Georgia and Texas, 

 and Thalictum debile are thus far known in Alabama only in this 

 region. 



Culturalplant formations. In its cultural plant formations this region 

 differs but slightly from the next region. The rich hill prairies, cal- 

 careous uplands, formerly bearing a mixed growth of pines and decidu- 

 ous trees, as well as the bottom lands, are for the most part devoted to 

 the cultivation of cotton. Larger or smaller patches of tropical sugar 

 cane are cultivated on almost every farm. Corn, oats, and sweet 

 potatoes and other root crops are raised to supply the home demand. 

 Less attention is paid to the raising of forage crops, the cattle being 

 left to shift for themselves throughout the year among the hills. In 

 the northern part the peach is raised in perfection, ripening its fruit 

 from the middle of May to August. Grapes can be harvested in July 

 and August, and strawberries are marketed in the first weeks of April. 

 The fig also bears abundantly. 



LOWER DIVISION OF THE COAST PINE BELT, OR LOWER REGION OF LONG-LEAF PINE. 



Physiographical features and climate. 



As the Tertiary strata disappear under the heavy beds of sands and 

 gravels of more recent formations, the topography of the country 

 becomes more uniform, the broad ridges spread out into slightly 

 undulating table-lands, which become somewhat broken in their descent 

 to the drainage channels. The rolling pine uplands rise gradually to 



