88 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 
VEGETATION OF THE BARRENS AND RIVER HILLS. 
In the northern part of the Tennessee Valley and west of the out- 
lying spurs of the Cumberland Mountains rises an undulating plain 
from 200 to 300 feet above the river level, broken by the deep narrow 
channels of the numerous tributaries of the river which take their 
rise in the ‘‘ Highland Rim” of Tennessee. The soil is a sandy com- 
pact loam of whitish color, destitute of lime and vegetable matter 
and deficient in underdrainage, being underlaid by an impervious clay 
or hardpan. This plain is covered with an open forest of the upland 
oaks, which are common in the mountain region, black jack prevailing, 
accompanied by mockernut hickory. The trees are all of stunted 
growth, scarcely above medium size, with an undergrowth of dogwood, 
black haw, sourwood, and sumach. A low willow (Salta tristis) covers 
acres of the level expanse, imparting by the ashy hue of its foliage a 
peculiar aspect to the low, bushy, deciduous forest. The herbaceous 
flora of these barrens exhibits the same want of variety as their woody 
growth. As noticed on a single visit to the barrens between the forks 
of Cypress and Shoal creeks, in Lauderdale County, in the early part 
of June, the paucity of the glumaceous plant formations was a sur- 
prise. Of grasses and Cyperaceae, 
Andropogon virginicus, Eleocharis tenuis, 
Agrostis hiemalis, Cyperus ovularis, 
Panicum commutatum, 
were scantily scattered between the herbaceous perennials, indicating 
a cold, ill-drained, rather poor soil. The following were among the 
herbaceous plants observed, the first being the most abundant: 
Phlox maculata. Meibomia canescens. 
Steironema lanceolatum. Meibomia dillenii. 
Steironema. ciliatum. Coreopsis tripteris. 
On the more exposed declivities, which admit of ready surface 
drainage, the same associations of xerophile herbs prevail which 
inhabit similar localities all over the State, mostly Leguminosae, con- 
sisting of bush clovers (Lespedeza spp.), tick-trefoils (Meibomia spp.) 
Stylosanthes, Psoralea, Cracca, and of other families, Coreopsis seni- 
folia, Ceanothus americanus, and Polygala incarnata. Tick-trefoils, 
chiefly Japanese clover (Lespedeza striata), which overruns the ground 
around dwellings, afford the only pasturage to live stock. 
On their descent to the river plain the channels of the water courses 
intersecting the barrens widen and the highland becomes divided by 
broader valleys into ridges, which encroach more or less upon the 
banks of the Tennessee River. These hills are mostly steep and 
densely wooded. With the dip of these strata toward the south the 
soil becomes looser and calcareous and the vegetation more luxuriant. 
The timber growth is of great diversity and of fair quality. White 
