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H a p p y S t . p at r i c k ’ S D a y
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and pond pine (Pinus), shading a
forest midstory composed of red bay,
loblolly bay (Gordonia), Virginia
bay (Magnolia), alongside black gum
(Nyssa), various oaks (Quercus) and
red maple (Acer).
Growing under the midstory
trees are flowering shrubs including
Cyrilla, Clethra, Lyonia, Zenobia and
Leucothoe. Dozens of other plant
species, many with equally quizzical
names, are also found in bays and
pocosins, intertwined by cable-like
woody greenbrier vines adorned
with needle sharp spines that trip-up
clumsy feet and poke through the
toughest clothing.
Pocosin, a word coined by early
Algonquin-speaking Native American
peoples, has long been translated to
mean “swamp on a hill,” a fitting
moniker for a wetland shrub thicket
habitat that fills low places between
otherwise elevated sand ridges where
longleaf pines grow.
In addition to supporting a great
diversity of plants, Carolina Bays and
pocosin thickets are very important to
wildlife including the black bear, bob-cat
and wild turkey, along with many
kinds of songbirds and a great diver-sity
of amphibians and reptiles. All of
these species seek and use this habitat
for shelter, water, food and space for
themselves and their offspring.
While you and I might stumble
ineptly through a bay or pocosin
tangle, I’ve watched adult black bears
slip through the densest underbrush
as though they were passing through
a cloud. When struggling through a
pocosin thicket, it is funny knowing
every living animal within earshot
knows where I am, while I have little
clue where they are.
Exploring a Carolina Bay offers
more than just glimpses of who’s who
in a pond or thicket. These habitats
are ancient places, some evidenced by
a stately ring of old-growth cypress
trees standing like living towers in
the root-prints of forbearers with a
genetic heritage tracing back several
thousands of years.
Continued on page 53.