15. THE COAST STRIP. 



127 



Climate. — The climate of the coast differs from that at 

 Mobile and Daphne chiefly in the amount of wind. As on 

 most other coasts, the wind blows pretty strongly in- 

 shore most of the time, and this is one condition that 

 hinders the growth of trees with broad thin leaves. 



Forest types. — The outer or moving dunes, as well as 

 the salt marshes, are essentially treeless. The station- 

 ary dunes nearest the sea support a sparse growth of 

 stunted evergreen small trees and shrubs, while some 

 that lie a mile or so inland and are more protected from 

 the wind have a more luxuriant vegetation of the ham- 

 mock type. The damp sandy flats are mostly covered 

 with slender slash pines and a dense growth of ever- 

 green shrubbery, similar in aspect to the pocosins of 

 eastern North Carolina. On the loamy shores of bays 

 and estuaries, and especially on the shell mounds, are a 

 few trees that prefer richer soil. Some of these last are 

 common in the interior of the state, and some are almost 

 confined to the coast region. Leguminous plants seem 

 to be entirely absent from the stationary dunes, as they 

 are from the very similar "scrub" of peninsular Florida, 

 and from the somewhat similar "jack pine plains" of 

 Michigan. 



Fire is a negligible factor in the coast region, partly 

 because in most places there is not enough grass to feed 

 flames, and partly because the area is so dissected by 

 waterways that even if a fire should start it would not 

 be likely to spread far. 



It is difficult to make quantitative estimates of the 

 trees in such a limited and diversified area, and the per- 

 centage numbers are therefore omitted from the follow- 

 ing lists. The principal species which attain the dimen- 

 sions of trees are as follows: 



