37

REGION 17: THE PINE-OAK FOREST

THIS region is characterized by the large number of species of trees of which its forest is composed. Especially is this true of the oaks and hickories, both in the bottoms and on the uplands. Maple, sweetgum (the red gum of lumbermen) black-gum, Magnolia, birch, cottonwood, elm, walnut, linden, willow and other trees are common. On sandy uplands sweetgum is frequently co-dominant with short-leaf or loblolly pine. There, its straight trunks-covered with branches which bear bright glossy green leaves turning red in the fall-are fully as tall as those of the pines. In the bottoms, crowded among other lofty forest hardwoods, its trunks are self pruned and branchless for 30 to 50 feet, making excellent lumber for cabinets and finishing work. So different in growth habit are they from the upland type that many lumbermen look upon them as entirely distinct.

Under the canopy of taller trees, or in the open pine forest, are fringe tree, red- and black-haw, huckleberry, persimmon, Sassafras, redbud, dogwood, holly and other small, showy, flowering trees. Creek and river bottoms contain ironwood, hop-horn-bean, planer tree and mulberry. Common upland shrubs are French mulberry, wax myrtle, partridge berry and, in dense stands of pine, subdued blackjack and postoak of dwarf stature. Some of the latter, small trees of 2 or 3 inches diameter, contain 40 to 50 annual growth rings. Bottomlands are in many places on the open floor of the forest densely covered by dwarf palmetto.

Hickories range from Buckley's hickory on the uplands to the water bitternut in the bottoms along sloughs. Buckley's hickory continues in many localities as a co-dominant on the uplands. Oaks tend to occupy the tighter upland soils and the bottoms. Postoak, red oak, black-jack, blue- or sand-jack, water oak, willow oak, yellow oak, basket oak and white oak are common in various situations. The first three share dominance on the tighter uplands as indicated, pine, sweetgum and hickory being more nearly restricted to sandy