118 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



waters of Perdido and Escambia rivers, and is there in full perfection. 

 This tree attains a height of from 80 to 90 feet, with an average diame- 

 ter of from 16 to 18 inches; trees over 24 inches in diameter are rarely 

 seen. Being much sought for on account of the value of the timber, 

 sound trees are at present frequent only in remote localities difficult 

 of access. Among the trees of smaller size and the variety of shrubs 

 forming the dense undergrowth of these forests the evergreens also 

 predominate, of which the following species are examples: 



Cliftonia monophylla. Myrica cerifera. 1 



Cyrilla racemiflora. Myrica inodora. 



Ilex my rli 'folia. Kalmia latifolia. 1 



Ilex lucida. Illidum floridanum. 

 Ilex glabra, 



Prominent by reason of their abundance and their showy flowers are 

 Pieris nitida and Leiicothoe axillaris with Oxydendriwn arbor eum, all 

 of the heath family; besides which may be mentioned: 



Butneria (Calycanthus) florida. Viburnum nudum (opossum haw) . 



Clethra alnifolia. Viburnum nitidum (opossum haw) . 



Mohrodendron (Halesia) dipterum (silver Viburnum molle (opossum haw) . 



bells) . Styrax pulverulenta (storax bush) . 



Mesophile herbaceous plant associations. The herbaceous plant asso- 

 ciations in these mesophile woods are identical with those of the same 

 character prevailing in the upper division of the coast pine belt. 

 Frequent among them is Macranthera fuchsioides, conspicuous on 

 account of its profusion of large racemes of scarlet flowers, a coarse 

 biennial extending from western Georgia and eastern Florida into this 

 State and to the northern limit of the Louisianian area. 



REGION OF THE COAST PLAIN OR LOW FLAT PINE BARRENS. 



Physiographical feature*. On their descent to the coast plain the 

 rolling p ; ne uplands disappear under the silt of sandy loams or merge 

 imperceptibly into the coast sands and the most recent lacustrine for- 

 mations which line the shore. The sandy loams form the second ter- 

 race of the lowlands of the coast, rising to a height of from 10 to 30 

 feet above the low flood plains and river bottoms, which are subject 

 to occasional overflow. 



Mesopliile forest*. Open forests of long-leaf pine sparsely inter- 

 spersed with Cuban pine and loblolly pine once covered the plain. 

 After the removal of the original timber growth the long-leaf pine 

 was to a large extent superseded by the Cuban pine, groves of which 

 in every stage of development occupy the clearings. Upon these 

 clearings, made scarcely two-thirds of a century ago, Cuban pine has 

 already attained the dimensions of useful timber, the trees averaging 

 from 18 to 24 inches in diameter, with a height of from 85 to 100 feet. 

 A number of trees felled upon one of these old clearings in the 



1 Found also in Carolinian area. 



