MARYLAND WEATHER SERVICE 107 



Along the Pocomoke River and its tributaries, Dividing and 

 Nassawango creeks, is found a type of swamp, which will here be 

 designated as "River Swamp," in which the Bald Cypress is the 

 characteristic tree. These Swamps extend from just above Rehoboth 

 to the Delaware line, occupying' a zone on each side of the river not 

 exceeding half a mile in width. The soil of the River Swamps is 

 saturated or at times inundated, the level of the river varying with 

 both tide and rainfall. The White Cedar is a rare associate of the 

 Bald Cypress, the other species being deciduous, as Red Maple, Black 

 Gum, Sweet Gum and Green Ash. There is a scattering growth of 

 shrubs but the herbaceous vegetation is very poor. 



Considerable difference is observable between the River Swamps 

 of the Pocomoke and the type of Swamp which borders the upper 

 water- of the Nanticoke and Choptank and all the smaller streams of 

 the Talbot formation, which will be designated "Stream Swamps."* 

 The most striking characteristic of the Stream Swamps is the low 

 stature of the trees and the irregular sky-line which they present. 

 While the River Swamps begin on the Pocomoke just above the high- 

 est point of saline influence, the Stream Swamps do not appear in 

 ascending the Choptank until 20 miles of brackish and fresh marsh 

 have been passed. There is no obvious difference in the physical 

 conditions on the two rivers to account for the difference between the 

 occurrence of swamp on the one and marshes on the other. It is 

 true that the Bald Cypress does not occur on the Choptank River 

 (and apparently not on the Nanticoke, while it is rare on the 

 Wicomico), and leaving out the Cypress from the River Swamps 

 would make them not very different in composition from the Stream 

 Swamps, although they would still lie very different in the higher and 

 regular stature of the trees, and in the accompanying herbaceous 

 vegetation. If the difference were merely a matter of the range of 

 the ( lypress we would expect u> find Stream Swamps on the Choptank 

 where we find marshes. 



The Marshes of the Eastern Shore fall into two classes, sail ami 

 fresh, which grade into each other along the larger streams. The 



*The Stream Swamps are locally known as "cripple," a word which is said 

 to lie ;i contraction of the Dutch kreupelbosch, meaning underwood, a word 

 borrowed by the early settlers of New Jersey from their New York neighbors. 



