12G ECONOMIC BOTANY OF ALABAMA. 



cut cypress and tupelo gum, doubtless derived mostly 

 from the delta. Two of these same mills also cut Cot- 

 tonwood (probably two species), 3 sweet gum, and 2 ash. 



15. The Coast Strip. 



(Figures 51-53.) 



In some places the pine forests of region 13 come to 

 within a few feet of tide-water, as if the sea had been en- 

 croaching on the land very recently; but there are many 

 places in the two maritime counties where other types of 

 vegetation, not belonging to that region, intervene be- 

 tween the long-leaf pine forests and salt water, and these 

 must be regarded as a distinct region, though covering 

 perhaps not more than 150 square miles in Alabama. 

 Our coast region is part of a strip that borders the Gulf 

 coast from the mouth of the Ocklocknee River in Middle 

 Florida to the Pearl River in Mississippi. East of Mo- 

 bile Bay it is mostly mainland, but west of there it is 

 chiefly confined to a chain of narrow islands several 

 miles off shore, the neighboring mainland belonging 

 mostly to region 13. 



References.— Mohr 8 (129-133), Smith 6 (66-67), 

 Smith 7 (290-291), Tuomey 2 (148-149), and U. S. soil 

 surveys of Baldwin and Mobile Counties, 



Soil, topography, etc. — The greater part of the coast 

 region consists of dunes of quartz sand, most of them 

 now stationary and held together by sparse vegetation. 

 The soil of the stationary dunes is extremely sterile, 

 nearly all soluble matter probably having been leached 

 out long ago, and is dazzling white in the sunshine. In 

 the moving dunes the sand has a slight tinge of buff. 

 Where the dunes rest on the mainland one finds behind 

 them and among them low flat damp sandy areas sup- 

 porting a slender growth of pines. On the banks of 

 some of the bays and estuaries are mounds of oyster 

 shells whose contents are supposed to have furnished 

 food for some pre-historic race of men, and these mounds 

 have some characteristic plants on them. In bays well 

 protected from wind and fresh water there are small 

 areas of salt marsh. 



