ALTAMAHA GRIT REGION OF GEORGIA 71 



all plants with irregular gamopetalous corollas are absent, and 

 that the Cyperaceae are all of the genus Carex. 



Nearly all of the species in this list grow in the upper third of 

 the coastal plain, but not so many in the lower third. Nearly 

 half of them extend up the Mississippi valley to Missouri or there- 

 abouts, probably because of the abundance of swamps in that part 

 of the country, and also because the older formations of the 

 coastal plain are extensively developed there. 



8. Muddy River-Swamps. 



Next in order are the swamps of the rivers which rise in the 

 Piedmont region and are always more or less muddy, namely, 

 the Ogeechee, Oconee, and Ocmulgee. (See Plate IX, Fig. 2.) 

 The Altamaha of course belongs to this class too, but no railroad 

 crosses it in the territory assigned to this work, and I have not yet 

 had a chance to examine it there. But the flora of its swamps 

 down in the flat country is so similar to that along its two prin- 

 cipal affluents, the Oconee and Ocmulgee, that there is no reason 

 to believe that the unexplored portion presents any peculiarities 

 in this respect. The muddy rivers are usually bordered with 

 swamps on both sides, and it is rather the exception to find a 

 bluff or steep bank rising abruptly from the water 's edge to above 

 the limits of inundation. But the swamps along these rivers in 

 the Altamaha Grit region are not so extensive as in the upper 

 third of the coastal plain, probably because the Grit is harder 

 than most other coastal plain rocks and therefore stands higher 

 above the streams. 



The following plants characterize these swamps 



7 Taxodium distichum 2-3 — 



5 Liquidambar Styraciflua 3 — 



4 Nyssa uni flora 4 



4 Salix nigra 4 cream 



4 Planera aquatica 2-3 — 



3 Fraxinus Caroliniana 3-4 



3 Quercus lyrata 3 - - > 



2 Carpinus Caroliniana 3—4 — 



2 Hicoria aquatica 



2 Quercus Michauxii — 



2 Acer rubrum 2 red 



