ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS - Brit - Botanical Research ...

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BIG THICKET/INTRODUCTION 157 FIG.87/ AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH <strong>OF</strong> THE BIG THICKET WHERE THE NECHES RIVER CUTS A MEANDERING PATH BELOW LAKE B.A. STEINHAGEN (PHOTO © WYMAN MEINZER). define either geographically or biologically and one that has been variously described as unique (Eisner 1973), exceptionally rich in species (Watson 1975; Loughmiller & Loughmiller 1977; Peacock 1994; National Park Service 1997), unusually diverse in terms of plant communities (Peacock 1994), and as the “Biological Crossroads of North America” (Gunter 1993). Eisner (1973), writing in Science, described it as follows: A region of extraordinary botanical exuberance, the Thicket is ecologically unique not only to Texas, but to the entire North American expanse as well. Located at the crossroads between the forests of the South and East and the vegetation of the West, the Thicket includes in its pine-hardwood stands elements from all convergent zones. A wet climate and a water-storing soil combine to nurture the mixture to lushness. On the other hand, some authorities (e.g., MacRoberts & MacRoberts 2004a) dispute these characterizations, and some would even question the existence of the Big Thicket as a distinct entity or would suggest that it is undefinable (e.g., Lumberman O.R. Crawford—Cozine 1993). According to Cozine (1993), “These skeptics maintain that at best the area is simply the western extension of the Southeastern Evergreen Forest which begins in Virginia and extends across the entire South.…” and that “…there is nothing within the East Texas pine forest to distinguish one area from another.” MacRoberts and MacRoberts (2004a) in their recent analysis (The Big Thicket: Typical or Atypical?) concluded that, rather than being unique, the Big Thicket is typical of the same habitat that extends into Louisiana and eastward. Several questions thus need to be asked about the Big Thicket. First, how is it defined geographically—exactly where is the Big Thicket and what are its boundaries? Second, how accurate are the various descriptions of the Big Thicket that have been given over the years? And third, can one define the Big Thicket biologically—is there something that makes it unique? The answers to these questions are examined in the sections that follow. For a concise summary definition, see page 172.
158 INTRODUCTION/BIG THICKET GEOGRAPHIC BOUNDARIES AND ORIGIN <strong>OF</strong> THE NAME—Depending on the source consulted, the Big Thicket is considered to have originally covered from over two (McLeod 1971, 1972) to nearly three and one-half (Owens 1978; Peacock 1994) million acres (809,000 to 1,416,000 hectares, the latter figure being approximately the size of Connecticut—Gunter 1993). However, there is much disagreement on what area should actually be called the Big Thicket (Fig. 88). In the words of Gunter (1993), the Big Thicket “is an ecological entity… and such entities rarely have perfectly precise boundaries.” As emphasized by McLeod (1971), “The area, popularly referred to as the Big Thicket, has long been ill-defined, poorly bounded, and questionably named.” Cozine (1993) noted that “What is the Big Thicket, and where is it located are questions which people have tried to answer for years.” Weniger (1984b) argued that the term, “Big Thicket,” “cannot be proved to be an ancient one,” that it is a relatively modern (1800s) concept, and that it is “not …profitable to try to trace the concept of the Big Thicket back into the Spanish 18th century.” Weniger, in fact, concluded that the first known published uses of the term “Big Thicket” are by Braman and De Córdoba in 1857 and 1858 respectively, and that the Big Thicket never was a clearly defined impenetrable area. Michael MacRoberts (pers. comm.) found a slightly earlier use of the name—Samuel Adams Hammett (1853), writing under the pseudonym Philip Paxton, described an area near the San Jacinto River as “… a thicket so dense that even in that country of tangled forest, it is known—par excellence—as the big thicket.…” It is worth noting that none of these uses are prior to 1850 and that well known maps of Texas in the mid-1800s (e.g., Kennedy 1841; Kendall 1845) do not mention the Big Thicket (e.g., Fig. 85). Though the exact origin of the term Big Thicket is unknown, Tharp (1952b) gave a reasonable explanation when he described the area: Much of the ground water was returned to the surface in seepy areas along slopes in “bay galls,” or through extensive swampy areas in the flood plains of the creeks feeding the Sabine, Angelina, Neches, and Trinity rivers. These swampy areas, in addition to being impassable themselves by reason of their miry nature, supported a growth of large and small hardwood vegetation so dense as to merit the name thicket. Since these thickets occupied an intricate network over the whole area, it was impossible for a traveler to proceed far without encountering one. It was small wonder that the notion grew that the whole area was a big thicket. There is no question that there are some extremely dense thickets in the area. In particular, some authors have suggested that the name may be in reference to the virtually impassable groves of titi or “tight-eye” (Cyrilla racemiflora, Cyrillaceae) that made early travel in the area so difficult (Peacock 1994). While uncertainty thus surrounds the origin of its name and boundaries, viewed in broadest terms the Big Thicket has been considered by some to be bordered on the north by the San Antonio-Natchitoches road (also known as the Old San Antonio Road, El Camino Real, or the King’s Highway) or perhaps better by the ridge running between Jasper and Livingston (G. Watson, pers. comm.), on the south by the coastal prairies, the variously named Atascosito-Opelousas Trail/La Bahía Road/Opelousas Road/lower Camino Real (McLeod 1972; Ajilvsgi 1979; Abernethy 1996), or two meander ridges (the China Ridge and the Neches Ridge—G. Watson, pers. comm.), on the east by the Sabine River (Louisiana border), and on the west by the Brazos River (Abernethy 1966, 1996). The western boundary was soon realized to be further east and closer to the Trinity River. When defined in this way, as done in Parks and Cory’s Biological Survey of the East Texas Big Thicket (1936), the Big Thicket “closely follows the description given by early settlers” (Gunter 1993). With such broad boundaries, this “primitive Big Thicket” encompassed approximately 3.35 million acres (1.36 million hectares) and all or part of fourteen counties (Parks & Cory 1936; Gunter 1993; Peacock 1994) (Figs. 88, 89). At the other extreme of the size scale, local residents of the area have generally considered the Big Thicket to be much smaller—about forty or fifty miles (64 or 80 km) long and twenty miles (32 km) wide
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ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS
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ALLDREDGE, LINDA & JACK BATTERBAE,
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We would like to recognize and expr
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ISSN 0833-1475 ISBN 1-889878-12-X S
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“DEEP EAST TEXAS IS AN OLD, QUIET
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Elray S. Nixon E lray Nixon was bor
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ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS TAB
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TABLE OFCONTENTS/ PAGE APPENDICES A
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Hymenocallis liriosme
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ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS OVE
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4 INTRODUCTION/GEOGRAPHIC AREA OF E
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10 INTRODUCTION/MAJOR RIVERS OF EAS
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12 INTRODUCTION/PLANTS TREATED The
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14 INTRODUCTION/GUIDE TO ARRANGEMEN
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16 INTRODUCTION/GUIDE TO SOURCES OF
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18 INTRODUCTION/GUIDE TO GEOGRAPHIC
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20 INTRODUCTION/GUIDE TO ENDANGERED
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22 INTRODUCTION/GUIDE TO GLOSSARY,
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24 INTRODUCTION/GUIDE TO ABBREVIATI
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26 INTRODUCTION/SUMMARY DATA ON FLO
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28 INTRODUCTION/ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Kar
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30 INTRODUCTION/AUTHORS’ NOTE Pre
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32 INTRODUCTION/GENERAL GEOLOGY OF
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46 INTRODUCTION/SOILS SOIL ORDER DE
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48 INTRODUCTION/SOILS, EAST TEXAS B
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50 INTRODUCTION/SOIL-RELATED GEOLOG
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60 INTRODUCTION/SOILS OF BLACKLAND
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66 INTRODUCTION/CLIMATE OF EAST TEX
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Forests define East Texas, and to a
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78 INTRODUCTION/GEOLOGY OF PINEYWOO
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80 INTRODUCTION/PRESETTLEMENT, EARL
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88 INTRODUCTION/PRESETTLEMENT VEGET
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90 INTRODUCTION/CURRENT VEGETATION
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208 INTRODUCTION/ORIGIN AND DIVERSI
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228 INTRODUCTION/CONSERVATION IN EA
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234 INTRODUCTION/HISTORY OF BOTANY
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244 INTRODUCTION/BOTANY IN NORTH CE
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246 INTRODUCTION/BOTANY IN NORTH CE
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248 INTRODUCTION/BOTANY AT UNIVERSI
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250 INTRODUCTION/BOTANY AT TEXAS A&
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252 INTRODUCTION/BOTANY AT TEXAS A&
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254 INTRODUCTION/OTHER CONTRIBUTION
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256 INTRODUCTION/CURRENT BOTANICAL
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258 INTRODUCTION/BOTANICAL ART IN E
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