60 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 
examination of the subsoil. The argillaceous schist underlying the 
sandy surface was found completely decomposed, transformed into a 
friable loam rich in plant food and sufficiently porous to permit the 
slow percolation of the surface water and its unhindered access to the 
long taproot of the pine. 
Open forests of longleaf pine responding to conditions similar to 
those prevailing on the flanks of the Talladega Mountains or Blue 
Ridge of Alabama, already mentioned, cover the lower cherty ridges 
in Calhoun County and the isolated peaks south of Talladega known 
as the Alpine Mountains, which rise to a height of 1,500 to 2,000 feet 
above the sea. These pine forests of the metamorphic highlands and 
of the Cambrian hills on their outskirts have in many localities become 
important since the development of the iron industry in these districts. 
During the past twenty-five years extensive areas have been denuded 
of their forests to yield the large supplies of charcoal demanded by 
this industry. Characteristic herbaceous species here found are: 
Cracca virginiana. Eupatorium aromaticum. 
Cracca spicata. Solidago odora, and others. 
Lespedeza hirta. Sericocarpus lortifolius. 
Lespedeza repens. Gaylussacia dumosa. 
Meibomia spp. Vaccinium stamineum. 
Eupatorium album. 
Heavy forests of longleaf pine cover the lower hills toward the 
Coosa River and the adjacent deposits of sands and gravels of the 
valley from Renfroe to Kymulga and to the banks of the Coosa River. 
A similar timber belt follows the drifted deposits from Gadsden, 
Etowah County, through Cherokee County and for a short distance 
beyond the Alabama and Georgia State line. The timber resources 
of these forests in the basin of Coosa River have furnished the sup- 
plies for an active lumber industry during the last twenty-five years. 
They are, however, rapidly becoming exhausted. 
Wherever a richer and deeper soil covers the heights, the slopes of 
the mountains, and the lower hills, deciduous trees predominate, though 
rarely the shortleaf pine makes its appearance. The deciduous forests 
of these metamorphic mountains and Coosa hills differ only slightly 
from the xerophile forests of the same character in other divisions of 
the mountain region. Notable is the greater scarcity of tulip and 
cucumber trees, shagbark and pale-leaf hickory, elms, and lindens, 
which abound in other parts. On the rocky heights above 900 to 1,000 
feet the following prevail: 
Quercus prinus (mountain oak). Quercus digitata (Spanish oak). 
Quercus marilandica (black jack). Quercus minor (post oak) . 
Quercus velutina (black or yellow oak). 
More rarely occur: 
Quercus alba (white oak). Castanea dentata (chestnut) . 
Hicoria glabra (pignut hickory). 
