•FORESTS OF THF, COASTAL PLAIN REGION. 143 



Coinciding in general with the three topographic divisions 

 described above are three well-marked forest divisions. That 

 lying to the eastward will be called the coastal plain forest 

 region. It includes the northern part of the great southern mari- 

 time pine belt which, more or less interrupted, but retaining its 

 characteristic arborescent growth, extends from eastern Virginia 

 to eastern Texas. It corresponds to the Lonisianian zone of the 

 biologists. 



The second forest division will be considered as the Piedmont 

 forest region. The forests of this region are typical of the hill- 

 country of the South Atlantic and Gulf states, and corresponds 

 to the Carolinian zone of the biologists. 



The most western division will be considered as the mountain 

 forest region. It forms almost the southern portion of the Appa- 

 lachian forests which extend from northern Alabama to Pennsyl- 

 vania and New York, and is the Appalachian life zone of the 

 biologists. On the higher mountains, but on no peaks under 

 5,000 feet elevation, occur isolated groups of forests, which are 

 referred by the biologist to a more northern zone, the Canadian ; 

 but these forests are not important enough, or sufficiently exten- 

 sive in this State, to require more than a slight description. 



FORESTS OF THE COASTAL PLAIN REGION. 



The forests of the coastal plain region are characterized by a 

 dominant growth of pines* on the uplands, except over limited 

 areas where broad-leaf evergreen trees are dominant ; and conifers 

 of several species, associated with broad-leaf trees, many of them 

 evergreen, on the lowlands. 



The variations in the character of the forests of the coastal 

 plain region are the result of the influences of three factors : 

 (1) The maritime conditions, due to the proximity to the ocean 

 arid sounds, which perceptibly affect the composition of the forest 

 only in the immediate vicinity of the coast; (2) elevation above 

 the sea level, which is so slight as to cause evident effects only 

 along the western limits of the region ; (3) differences in the soils, 

 to which is largely due the distribution within the region of the 



*Pines occurring over the larger portion of this region all have 3 leaves to the sheath. 



