HERBACEOUS VEGETATION OF COAST PLAIN. 119 
suburbs of Mobile furnished sticks of merchantable timber 30 to 40 
feet in length, none of them having reached an age of over 60 years. 
Mesophile herbaceous plant associations (Rynchospora formation).— 
The terrace of sandy loams extends over the larger part of the coast 
plain. The ground being almost perfectly level and underlaid by a 
compact, somewhat impervious subsoil, is consequently more or less 
deficient in drainage, and being covered with a dense sod formed by 
the roots and rhizomes of low, perennial monocotyledonous plants, the 
ground remains damp and the decomposing vegetable matter, under 
the influence of sun and wind, is converted into an acid humus, giving 
rise toa peaty soil. This damp, mucky soil, in a semiboggy condition 
during seasons of rain, supports a vegetation of low, grass-like plants, 
mostly of the sedge family or sour grasses (Cyperaceae) of various 
genera, which in number vastly predominate over the true grasses 
(Poaceae), rushes (Jwnc?), and golden-eyed grasses (Xyridaceae), which 
find their home in the flat, damp pine barrens of the plain. Horn 
rushes (Rynchosporae) largely prevail over the other representatives 
of the sedge family, and numerous species of this extensive genus, 
almost exclusively confined to eastern North America and the adjacent 
tropical zones, make up the largest portion of the sod vegetation, thus 
forming a more or less compact plant formation highly characteristic 
of this region. Among the mesophile associations which inhabit the 
scantily shaded, frequently open plain, with its sour, damp, shallow, 
and during the rainy seasons more or less boggy soil, there is found in 
many localities a tiny creeping peat moss (Sphagnum imbricatum) and 
other short-stemmed species (S. compactum, S. intermedium), which 
are able to resist the effects of occasional droughts. The following 
Cyperaceae are typical, and predominate on the flat expanse of this 
terrace of the plain: 
Rynchospora plumosa. Rynchospora divergens. 
Rynchospora pusilla. Rynchospora microcarpa. 
Rynchospora rariflora. Rynchospora gracilenta. 
Rynchospora multiflora. Rynchospora cymosa globularis. 
Rynchospora cymosa.' Rynchospora oligantha.? 
Rynchospora ciliaris. Kobresia odorata. 
Rynchospora baldwinii. Kobresia monocephala. 
Rynchospora chapmani. 
With these are found the following rushes: 
Juncus elliottii. Juncus marginatus aristulatus.? 
Juncus difusissimus. Juncus bufonius fascicularis. 
Juncus marginatus.) 
Grasses of the same region are—preferring the low flats with a more 
damp, sandy soil: 
Andropogon mohrii. Steglingia poaeformis. 
Andropogon. tetrastachyus. Manisuris corrugata. 
Paspalum praecox. 
1¥Found also in Carolinian area. 
