MARYLAND WEATHEK SERVICE 145 



Conclusions. 



A review of the character of the dominant upland vegetation on 

 the Eastern Shore shows that of the Talbot Formation to be related 

 to that found in the tide-water sections of Virginia and North Caro- 

 lina, and to the coniferous forest region of the southern Coastal 

 Plain, while the vegetation of the Wicomico Formation is related 

 to that of the Piedmont plateau of Maryland and the adjoining 

 states. The botanical history of the Eastern Shore is that of the 

 repeopling with plant life of an area which has been raised by two 

 well-defined uplifts from the floor of the sea in recent geological 

 time. The immigrant species which have reached the area through 

 natural means have come partly from the older portions of the 

 Coastal Plain in states to the south, and partly from the Piedmont 

 Plateau of the contiguous land to the north. On the Wicomico 

 Formation the Piedmont element predominates, on the Talbot 

 Formation the southern or Coastal Plain element, which is to be 

 attributed mainly to the persistence of the immigrant species on 

 the soils most closely resembling those of their original habitat. 



The distinctness of the vegetation of the Eastern Shore and of 

 the Coastal Plain of New Jersey is most striking both from a 

 floristic and from an ecological point of view. The Pine Barrens 

 of New Jersey are an almost pure stand of Pinus rigida, a tree which 

 is extremely rare on the Eastern Shore, and among their herbaceous 

 plants are the Pine Barren species mentioned in Part II., which are 

 of southern relationship, and a number of bog species, which are of 

 northern relationship but are found much farther south both in and 

 out of the mountains. On the Eastern Shore there are habitats which 

 would appear to be congenial ones for the Pine Barren species, yet 

 they are represented by a very few forms and the bog species are like- 

 wise absent. There is a notable difference in the topography and the 

 local distribution of habitats in the two states, yet there are areas of 

 Upland and of Upland Swamp in Maryland which appear to present 

 conditions identical with those in certain habitats of the New Jer- 

 sey Barrens. Botanical history likewise fails to afford an explana- 

 tion of the observed facts, for the geomorphic histories of the Coastal 

 Plain in Maryland and Now Jersey have been identical. 



