Carolinian Pine Barren-Strand District. 433 
On Smith’s Island, a delta-like formation at the mouth of the Cape Fear 
River, North Carolina, Sabal Palmetto (= /nodes palmetto) reaches its 
northern limit‘) (see plate IX). 
-  Associated with it in a forest of considerable denseness and impenetrability are: Ilex (= I. 
cassine), Ilex opaca, Quercus virginiana, Q. aquatica (= nigra), Juniperus virginiana, Osmanthus ameri- 
cana, Pinus Taeda. Sabal palmetto makes a magnificent growth in soil consisting of pure sand 
and shell fragments and on the Isle of Pines, South Carolina, according to Coker, it is associated 
in the hammocks with Quercus virginiana, Q. laurifolia, Juniperus virginiana and such shrubs a 
Zanthoxylum clavahereulis, Ilex vomitoria, Bumelia tenax, Callicarpa americana, Yucca filamentosa, 
Opuntia vulgaris, O. pes-corvi ee the herbs re americanum, Cynodon dactylon, 
Sporobolus indicus, Panicum lanuginosum, Sanicula canaden Galium hispidulum, Monarda 
punctata, Bidens frondosa and Eupatorium leucolepis. Sm ax. Taurifolin festoons the trees and 
Mitchella repens forms carpet on the ground in the shade beneath. Sabal Adansonii which ranges 
farther south is absent from this island. 
Oak Flats Formation. In this connection must be mentioned the oak flats 
which border most of the gum and cypress swamps, lying between the 
swamps (see later) and the level pine land. The soils of these flats are damp 
or moist usually deep loams covered with broad-leaved trees, viz., Ouercus 
aquatica (= Q. nigra), and other oaks, species of Ulmus, Acer, Liquidambar, 
Nyssa. These form an upper story 80 to 100 feet in height and of con- 
siderable density while beneath them are Carfinus caroliniana, Quercus 
obtusiloba. There is little undergrowth. Where the soil of the oak flats be- 
comes peaty, Ziriodendron tulipifera occurs occasionally among the other trees. 
3. Inland Forest Formations. 
The forests of the interior of the Carolinian coastal plain are of three types 
constituting three groups of phytogeographic formations: Mixed Forest Forma- 
tions, Pine Barren Formations, Hygrophile Forest Formations, the latter 
including the forest of the black gum swamp (cypress swamp) and that of the 
open light swamp. These formations have been most carefully studied in 
southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina and we.owe our know- 
ledge to the energetic field labors of THOMAS H. KEARNEY. Less is known 
of similar portions south of North Carolina and in the absence of more detailed 
information the character of the Virginia and North Carolina areas must be 
considered as typic and in all probability the difference is not in the physio- 
gnomy of the vegetation north and south, but in ur presence or absence of 
certain north or south ranging plants. 
Mixed Forest Formations. The forest which still covers large areas of the 
coastal plain is usually a mixture of coniferous and deciduous trees. Where 
the conditions have not been disturbed, the loblolly, or rosemary pine 
(Pinus taeda) is still the dominant species in sandy soils. On stiffer soils, 
especially away from the sea, hardwoods of several species constitute the 
ı) Massey, W. F.: The northern Limit of Sabal Palmetto. Garden and Forest V: 189. 
April 20, 1892. 
Harshberger, Survey N.-America, 28 
