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

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Near Nacogdoches, Parker (1968) described a pine forest as follows: …the trees straight and tall, but standing so far apart, that a carriage might go almost any where among them. The grass grew beneath them, and we could see a great distance as we passed along. While the Pineywoods are now often thought of as closed forest, this description by Parker agrees with the conclusions of various workers who suggest that some of the presettlement areas of longleaf pine were perhaps better described as open forests or savannahs with a grassdominated understory (Watson 1975; Harcombe et al. 1993). Because of the frequent fire during presettlement times, many areas would have had much more open vegetation than at present. Josiah Gregg, in 1841 (Fulton 1941), gave a still more detailed picture of part of the early Pineywoods vegetation: Came near 40 m. today and stayed in a new little village called Angelina, on east side (or S.E.) of Angelina R. a branch of the Neches. The road passed today principally over a poor pine country (mostly long leaf) intermixt a little with oaks, gums, dogwood, etc. About 10 m. back however from village passed a few miles of very pretty land, timbered with beech, bay, etc.…Today the greatest portion of the day’s travel was through a beautiful looking undulating country, timbered with white oak, black oak… some black and sweet gum, bay, holly, beech, sassafras, pignut hickory…chinkapin, dogwood, ironwood, cypress on branches.… Oran M. Roberts (later a governor of Texas), also in the 1840s, described part of the Pineywoods as follows (in Truett & Lay 1984): Immediately above and north of the level Gulf prairie, in southeastern Texas, lies a body of longleaf pine, over one hundred miles in width, on the Sabine River from about Sabine Town [east of present-day Hemphill] down that stream, thence west, diminishing in width for about one hundred miles. This lies just below the old San Antonio road as it passes through eastern Texas, where it is in the shape of high, rolling ridges or undulating plains, and becomes more and more level as you go southward, until it reaches the level Gulf prairie, which it joins….There is other timber than pine upon, and adjoining, the numerous streams of this region. The timber grows rapidly, with long, slender, pliant branches, and is intermixed with evergreens and vines,—especially the Muscadine vine,— indicating the prevalence of a great deal of moisture. The numerous and never-failing streams furnish water-power to saw up the pine, cypress and other trees, into lumber. He went on to say, PRESETTLEMENT, EARLY SETTLEMENT, RECENT CONDITIONS OF PINEYWOODS/INTRODUCTION 81 There is about the middle of this pine region, a very fertile belt, which may be denominated the Magnolia belt, about twenty miles wide running westwardly from the Sabine River.… It is not an unbroken strip, but is run into by the pine at different places, so as to make it irregular in form. It is overgrown with a magnificent forest of mammoth white-oaks, beech, sugartree, elm, water-oak and magnolia, with innumerable evergreens and vines, presenting, even upon the ridges, the appearance of a rich bottom adjoining a river. It is believed that East Texas once contained 5,000 square miles of longleaf pine forest (Bray 1901b; Oberholser 1974). Even in 1905, Bailey was able to say, “The long-leaf pine (Pinus palustris) occupies the southeastern part of the state, and where untouched by ax or fire forms miles of dense forest of the cleanest, most uniform and symmetrical body of pine to be found on the continent....” The importance of longleaf pine can be seen in Harper’s (1920) description of the area around Kountze (Hardin County): “as in nearby parts of Louisiana, Pinus palustris is practically the only tree on the uplands there.” Some of the longleaf pines were huge, with trees 100 to 150 or even 200 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet or more in diameter (Bollaert 1843; McWilliams and Lord 1988; Maxwell 1996b). Specific examples (Fig. 43) can be seen in the following quote from Block (1995): In April, 1927, a huge long leaf log, 61-inches in diameter and sixty feet long, was cut at New Blox log camp in Jasper County, and it required three 8-wheel log wagons to transport it. About 1900,
82 INTRODUCTION/PRESETTLEMENT, EARLY SETTLEMENT, RECENT CONDITIONS OF PINEYWOODS FIG.43/ LONGLEAF PINE LOG,61 INCHES IN DIAMETER, CUT IN JASPER CO. IN 1927. PHOTO COURTESY TEXAS FORESTY MUSEUM,LUFKIN. Mexican shingle makers in Nacogdoches County cut a long leaf pine log and counted 283 growth rings in it. The tree was already a sapling whenever the Pilgrims celebrated their first Thanksgiving. About 1905, a huge short leaf pine tree on the W.R. Pickering timberlands in Shelby County was 33 feet in circumference. Other species could also be huge—present-day record-holding trees give some impression of what the original forest must have looked like (e.g., a 165 ft. (50 m) tall Quercus pagoda (cherry-bark oak), a 150 ft. (46 m) Quercus lyrata (overcup oak), a 146 ft. (44.5 m) Quercus nigra (water oak), a 139 ft. (42 m) Carya texana (black hickory), Fagus grandifolia (American beech) with diameter breast height (dbh) of approximately 1 meter, Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum) with dbh up to 60 inches (152 cm), and a Quercus michauxii (swamp chestnut oak) with dbh of 5.5 feet (168 cm)—Nixon et al. 1980b; Schafale & Harcombe 1983; Fritz 1993; Texas Forest Service 1998; J. Van Kley, pers. obs. However, other areas were quite different, and it should be noted that the forests were not all tall or impressive. Frederick Law Olmsted (1857) described the area near the western edge of the Pineywoods in Houston County, as “a very poor country, clay or sand soil, bearing short oaks and black-jack.” Similarly Stephen F. Austin (1821) described part of the Pineywoods as follows: The general face of the country from within 5 miles of the Sabine to Nacogdoches is gently rolling and very much resembles the Barrens of Kentucky, except that the growth of timber is larger and not so bushy—Black jack and Black Hickory, Mulbery [sic], is the principal timber, but it [is] all too low and scruby [sic] for Rails, or building, except on the Creeks where the timber is very good and lofty.… Likewise, Mirabeau B. Lamar, who traveled through the region from the Sabine to Nacogdoches in 1835, noted the area as “very badly timbered” and had nearly all “scrubby growth” except on the watercourses (Parker 1980). Such early descriptions emphasize the variation in vegetation that was apparently present in the presettlement forests. While the Pineywoods were originally mostly forest, it should be stressed that reports by early settlers and travelers confirm the existence of numerous small prairies in the old growth Pineywoods. In the words of William A. McClintock (in his journal published in 1930) who passed through the area in 1836, Crossed the Nechis [sic] this morning by swiming [sic]. Some beautiful glade prairie (low bottom prairie) dotted here and there with groves of pine, oak, and hickory. Nothing in woodland scenery can surpass in beauty and symmetry many of these groves.
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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
Page 47 and 48: 30 INTRODUCTION/AUTHORS’ NOTE Pre
Page 49 and 50: 32 INTRODUCTION/GENERAL GEOLOGY OF
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Page 65 and 66: 48 INTRODUCTION/SOILS, EAST TEXAS B
Page 67 and 68: 50 INTRODUCTION/SOIL-RELATED GEOLOG
Page 77 and 78: 60 INTRODUCTION/SOILS OF BLACKLAND
Page 83 and 84: 66 INTRODUCTION/CLIMATE OF EAST TEX
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Page 95 and 96: 78 INTRODUCTION/GEOLOGY OF PINEYWOO
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Page 107 and 108: 90 INTRODUCTION/CURRENT VEGETATION
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Page 133 and 134: 116 INTRODUCTION/ PRESETTLEMENT, EA
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Page 147 and 148: 130 INTRODUCTION/BLACKLAND PRAIRIE
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132 INTRODUCTION/GEOLOGY OF BLACKLA
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134 INTRODUCTION/PRESETTLEMENT AND
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144 INTRODUCTION/VEGETATION OF BLAC
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146 INTRODUCTION/FUTURE OF BLACKLAN
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148 INTRODUCTION/FUTURE OF BLACKLAN
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150 INTRODUCTION/CADDO LAKE LOCATIO
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152 INTRODUCTION/CADDO LAKE FIG.84/
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154 INTRODUCTION/PRESENT AND FUTURE
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156 INTRODUCTION/BIG THICKET THE BI
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158 INTRODUCTION/BIG THICKET GEOGRA
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160 INTRODUCTION/NATURAL HISTORY OF
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172 INTRODUCTION/SUMMARY DEFINITION
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184 INTRODUCTION/HISTORY OF BIG THI
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190 INTRODUCTION/CONSERVATION IN BI
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200 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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ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS - Brit - Botanical Research ...

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