122 THE PLANT LIFE OF MARYLAND 



cies southward, and are associated with the Chestnut and Chestnut 

 Oak in the upper Eastern Shore. The shrubby vegetation is com- 

 monly made up of thickets of Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and the most 

 common of the scattered herbaceous plants is Dcschampsia flexuosa. 

 On the loam Ravine Slopes is to be found a much richer flora, in 

 which the principal trees are the Beech, the White Oak, the But- 

 tonwood, the Spanish Oak, the Pig-nut Hickory, the Bed Mulberry, 

 the Wild Black Cherry, the Hackberry, the Holly and rarely the 

 Bed Oak and the Loblolly Pine. Very infrequent is the Linden 

 {Tilia americana) , which is not known outside this habitat on the 

 Eastern Shore. Another tree common in the Upper Midland Dis- 

 trict and Mountain Zone which is known only from a single sta- 

 tion on the Eastern Shore is the Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), 

 which is found on the Bavine Slopes of Watts Creek in Caroline 

 Comity, three miles south of Denton. A number of shrubs and 

 herbs have been seen in Bavine Slope forests which are very rare 

 or unknown in other habitats on the Eastern Shore, including 

 Corylus americana, Vagnera racemosa, Salvia lyrata, Heuchera 

 americana, Asartun canadcmw. Arislolochia scrpentaria, Phegopteris 

 phegopteris and Polypodium vulgare. 



It must be noted here that there are a few localities on the Tal- 

 bot terrace where it has undergone considerable erosion and pre- 

 sents limited areas of Bavine Slope and Flood Plain. This is true 

 of the broader parts where it attains the greatest elevation adjoin- 

 ing the Wicomico, as in Windmill and Peachblossom branches south 

 of Easton, Talbot County. In this region the vegetation of the 

 Slopes and Flood Plains on the Talbot terrace is identical with that 

 on the Wicomico. 



Flood Plains. — In many of the Flood Plains of the Wicomico 

 terrace the average soil moisture content is near saturation, in others 

 it is much less, but in even the lowest it ranges much higher than in 

 any of the upland soils. The forest, is entirely deciduous, in the 

 wetter Flood Plains it resembles that of the Stream Swamps to be 

 described later, in the drier it resembles the Flood Plain forests of 

 the Midland Zone. 



