Northern Pine Barren-Strand District. 419 
Cowbane-Association: Tiedemannia (Oxypolis) rigida, Hibiscus mo- 
scheutos. 
Polygonum-Association: along the borders of a swampy area grows 
Polygonum lapathifolium. 
Salt pond- and Salt-marsh Formation. This formation may be studied to 
advantage along the northern sea coast of New Jersey, as it is derived from 
the salt bays, or inlets, that characterize the coast, and it in turn is replaced 
by the freshwater ponds represented in the region. If an ocean inlet is 
wholly or partially closed by a barrier of sand that has been formed by ocean 
currents, or by wind action, a salt pond results. Ultimately such salt ponds 
are transformed into small fresh-water lakes with a corresponding change in 
the vegetation, but before that happens, the salinity of the water is maintained, 
if the pond has a narrow outlet to the sea by the renewal of its water at high 
tide. If the pond is closed from the sea by a low sand bank, then it is only 
at exceptionally high tides, or during storms that a new supply of salt water 
replaces the old which has become essentially brackish. These ponds were 
studied by the author who has arranged them according to their progress 
from saline to fresh-water ponds. The transition from a salt water vegetation 
to a fresh-water can be studied in Sylvan Lake where near the old outlet occur 
Spartina patens, Funcus Gerardi, Scirpus pungens, Panicum crus-galli and 
Baccharis halimifolia, while some distance back from the ocean Nymphaea 
odorata and Typha latifolia grow in abundance. The vegetation of the true 
salt ponds is essentially similar to that of the salt marshes, that of the fresh- 
water ponds like those of the interior. 
The inner strip. of the salt marsh is characterized by the presence of 
Hibiscus moscheutos. On the marsh proper occurs in several well-marked 
zones Distichlis spicata in the more elevated portions, while Salzcornia her- 
bacea and Bigelovii, Spartina patens and polystachya, Limonium carolinianum 
grow in the wetter areas with occasional patches of Scirpus robustus. Along 
the edge of the thorofare' through which the tidal water circulates is found a 
pure association of Spartina stricta maritima. Near the outer edge of the 
marsh Aydrocotyle umbellata is found, while on exposed sand slopes Opuntia 
vulgaris is at home with a rose and a willow forming nearby thickets. 
The salt marshes of New Jersey have been investigated by the author!) along Newark, Raritan, 
Sandy Hook Bays, Shrewsbury River, Shark River and Wreck Pond in the north, at South Atlantie 
City, at Piermont and at Wildw 508 in the south. The association of salt-marsh species varies in 
"the different localities, but in general it may be said, pending a more detailed statement elsewhere, 
that Spartina stricta var. maritima, fringes the open salt water of bays, channels and lagoons, back 
of which grows Spartina patens, if the ground is low, while Distichlis spicata, Juncus Gerardi, 
Seirpus pungens form extended patches back of the fringe of salt grasses; or if the marsh is 
narrow and the bank steep back of it, then these plants form strips in pure association. In the 
autumn these meadows are made bright with Gerardia maritima and species of Sabbatia with 
showy flowers, while in autumn is found in the marshes at Beesley’s Point!) in a slight depression 
1) See Srone, Wrrmer: The coastal Strip of New Jersey and the Rediscovery of Lilaeopsis. 
Bartonia I: 20—24. 
27* 
