fade into high-canopied maritime 

 woods and wetland scrubs farther 

 inland. 



This progression of the mari- 

 time forest from the seaward edge of 

 barrier islands has been studied by 

 the N.C. Natural Heritage Program, 

 which inventories and prioritizes the 

 state's rare plant and animal species. 



Maritime shrub forests live 

 closest to the salt water. The 

 sculpted vegetation that grows here 

 — usually live oak, wax myrtle and 

 yaupon — has been sheared by salt 

 spray. Looking more like brushy 

 footstools than their inland kin, these 

 trees and plants develop a thick pro- 

 tective leaf covering. 



Behind the maritime shrub grow 

 evergreen forests and deciduous 

 forests, depending on the region. In 

 both, branches thick with leaves knit 



a canopy over the forest floor. It 

 cloaks the more vulnerable sub- 

 canopy of shrubs, herbs and smaller 

 stands of red bay, ironwood, Virginia 

 red cedar and flowering dogwood. 

 But beyond these similarities, the 

 species that weave the canopy and 

 underbrush of the two forest types 

 vary like the handiwork of different 

 seamstresses. 



The sweeping canopy of the ev- 

 ergreen forest, most common from 

 Buxton Woods south, is dominated 

 by live oak and loblolly pine. Its 

 northern counterpart, the maritime 

 deciduous forest, is thick with 

 loblolly pine and hardwoods such as 

 Spanish oak, beech, sweet gum and 

 water oak. A greater diversity of 

 greenery sprouts from the floors of 

 the deciduous forests, which grow in 

 Nags Head Woods, Kitty Hawk 



Woods and Currituck Banks. 



In both forests, a skirt of shrubs 

 brightens the brown matted floor 

 with the green of yaupon, wax 

 myrtle, beautyberry, blue huckle- 

 berry and cane. Vines, some as thick 

 as an adult's forearm, twist up the 

 tree trunks and along the reach of 

 their limbs. Rainwater washes over 

 the vines and lichens of red and 

 green to revitalize the roots and soil 

 of the forest floor. 



Maritime forests grow on a 

 washboard topography of swales and 

 ridges that correspond to old dunes 

 of long-dried beaches. Swales are the 

 low-lying valleys between the dunes; 

 ridges are the dune peaks anchored 

 in place by the maritime trees. With- 

 out this greenery stronghold, the 

 dunes would be active again. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 5 



