132 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



in the sand often closely cover the soil. On the borders of these 

 woods, and almost confined to them, Itynehospora dodecandra is fre- 

 quent with the rare Carex dasycarpa, both of which occur also in 

 South Carolina. 



Mesophile plant associations of the salt marshes covering the outlying 

 islands. Dauphine Island is the most easterly of the interrupted chain 

 of islands which incloses the waters of Mississippi Sound; it is the 

 largest that fronts the Alabama coast and was originally covered with 

 the Cuban pine. The flora of this island presents no new features, the 

 vegetation of its dunes, saline marshes, and pine flats being identical 

 with that of the corresponding situations on the mainland. 



The low islets closer to the main shore and flooded by every high 

 tide are bare of tree growth, and their borders, if not their whole 

 surface, are almost always soaked by the briny sea, and are not rarely 

 covered with a floor of fine salt. Where sand and shingle, thrown up 

 by the waves, have raised the ground above continued overflow, ever- 

 green shrubs preferring a saline soil (halophytes), such as Ivafru- 

 tescens, BaccJiaris halimifolia and B. angustifolia, fringe their shores, 

 together with Chenopodiwn berlandieri and Lycium carolinianum (sea 

 cherry). Batis maritima, Salicomia Hgelovii, and S. ambigua, low 

 shrubby paludial halophytes, with Fimbristylis spadicea, form a dense, 

 close cover of perpetual verdure on these islands. 



Mesophile plant associations (Jialophytic) of the salt marshes on the 

 main shore. The shallow, tranquil waters of the numerous inlets of 

 the sea, with their floor of deep, sandy mud, which receive the smaller 

 pine-barren streams, are covered exclusively by the black rush (Juncus 

 roemerianus}. The rigid, sharp-pointed, leafless stems which rise 2 

 feet or more above the water, and are more or less crowded, present 

 a rather compact plant formation highly characteristic of the vegeta- 

 tion of the littoral region of the Southern Atlantic and Gulf States. 

 This formation might fitly be designated as the Southern Juncaceous 

 formation. This rush also forms the great bulk of the vegetation of 

 the extensive saline marshes lining the shore, which at low tide are 

 above water and which by their position are protected against the 

 violent action of the waves. In these marshes, associated with the 

 black rush occur: 



Fimbristylis castanea. Distichlis spicata. 



Fimbristylis puberula. Chaetochloa imberbis perennis 



Spartina polystachya. Paspalum vaginatum. 

 Cladium effuwm. 



Also the following halophytes: 



Jjimonium carolinianum. Borrichia frutescens. 



Gerardia maritima. Cynanchum palmtre. 



In receding from the water front the marsh gradually rises above 

 continuous overflow, and the ground affords a firmer foothold. In 

 such situations the rushes and grasses disappear and a more or less 



