Gulf Pine Barren-Strand District. 449 
landica, O. falcata (= O. digitata), obtusiloba, coccinea and species of Carya, 
together with Cornus florida and Oxydendrum arboreum etc., but more often 
the undergrowth is entirely lacking or consists of a few widely scattered indi- 
viduals of the above species. In the latter case the ground cover consists of 
a mat of grasses and numerous species of the orders Compositae and Legu- 
minosae. Where the soil is more fertile and retentive of moisture the hard- 
woods form an important part of the forest. Here Pinus mitis (= P. echinata) 
and P. Taeda make their appearance and sometimes crowd out Pinus palustris. 
The steep northern slopes of higher elevations such as York and Reedy 
mountains and the Weogufka range are covered with deciduous trees. On the 
southern slopes a pure forest of Pinus palustris extends up to 1000 feet to 
be replaced at higher elevations by hardwoods. The occurrence of Rhodo- 
endron maximum and Kalmia latifolia as an undergrowth considerably alters 
the appearance of the forest as on the hills between Finnegotchkee and Weo- 
gufka creeks, the former on cool northern exposures and the latter in small 
clumps on the steep, rocky and dry southern exposures‘). The coastal plain 
above the extensive grassy marshes in Mississippi consists of rolling pine lands 
(7,712,000 acres —= 31,302 qkm) almost exclusively covered by the long-leaf 
pine. West of the Mississippi River, the long-leaf pine is limited to the sands 
and gravels of the latest Tertiary formations. They are found above the great 
alluvial plain in Louisiana where towards their northern limit they pass gradually 
into a mixed growth of deciduous trees and Pinus mitis. In the center of this 
region the pine ridges alternate with tracts of white oak and hickory. Tending 
toward the Red River the pure forest of Pinus palustris is unbroken. In 
Texas this forest formation extends from the Sabine River west to the Tri- 
nity River and from the grassy savannas of the coast region north and are 
unrivalled elsewhere except perhaps in Louisiana. This forest area is 
unique in its isolation far to the southwest of the main longleaf pine belt, 
east of the Mississippi. The Texas portion is shaped like a broad wedge 
thrust in between Pinus Taeda?) at the south and Pinus mutis at the north 
and extends southwestward to the Trinity River where the overlapping areas 
of Pinus Taeda and Pinus mitis form its western boundary. 
The high forest is almost bare of undergrowth and its monotony is 
frequently unbroken for long distances, no other trees or shrubs appearing 
among the tall trunks of the pine. On sterile ridges deeply covered with a 
1) REED, FRANKLIN W.: A working plan for forest Lands in central Alabama. U.S. Forest 
Service Bulletin 68. 1905. 
2) Wherever swamps are drained, prairie surface disturbed, or original forest removed there 
the loblolly pine Pinus Tacda Es Beil conditions for growth, so that four types of ee 
pine forest are recognizable in eastern Texas, viz., loblolly pine in pure groups on wet prai 
loblolly pine in pure stands on zung well draibed light soil; loblolly pine in mixture with band 
woods. On poorly drained soil or on well drained fertile soils and loblolly pine in pure sta 
on old fields. ZoN, RAPHAEL! Loblei pine in eastern Texas. U. S. Forest Service Bulletin ca. 
1905 
Harshberger, Survey N,-America, 29 
