244 ANNUAL REPORT STATE GEOLOGIST. 



mens of plants that the student is unable to determine should 

 be sent to some competent botanist for identification. 



The botanical characteristics of the region. — That part of 

 the State in which our observations were made may be divided,, 

 for botanical purposes, into bottoms and uplands. The culti- 

 vated parts of the bottoms are largely devoted to the raising 

 of corn and cotton. The wild parts are forests, or swamps, or 

 flood plains. 



In prairie regions the woods are confined to narrow strips 

 along the margins of the streams ; but in some districts, as 

 near Olyphant, on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern 

 Railway, the whole bottom is covered with a magnificent 

 growth of timber. The most abundant trees of these forests 

 are the sycamore, cottonwood, white oak, post oak, elm, hack- 

 berry, honey locust and sweet gum. 



In the narrow strips above mentioned, the vegetation has a 

 somewhat different character, forming dark matted copses- 

 The trees are smaller and contain a different group of species. 

 The box elder (Negundo aceroides), redbud, winter grape 

 (Vitis rip aria), two other grapes (F. indivisa and bipin?iata) r 

 and the two canes {Arundinaria macrosperma, Mx., and A. 

 tecta) are abundant in these places. 



The swamps present a peculiar and fascinating appearance. 

 Their most prominent feature is the. magnificent bald cypresses 

 (Taxodium di stic hum.) These trees grow in three feet or less 

 of water, their enlarged conical bases partly submerged, and 

 their "knees" projecting from the surrounding water like the 

 stumps of young trees. On the surface of the water is often 

 a bright, green scum composed of duckweeds (Lemna and 

 Spirodela) and Azolla. In the center of the swamp the water 

 is deeper, from six to eight feet, devoid of trees, filled with 

 white water-lilies {Nymphcea tuberosa of Paine) and surrounded 

 by a fringe of bur-reeds {Sparganium and Rocladum of Engel- 

 mann.) A few cranes give the spot a lazy animation, the 

 whole being dark, gloomy and tropical. 



