XVI International Botanical Congess

A survey to document the vascular plants of Amite County, Mississippi, was conducted in 1998-1999. Consisting of 729 square miles, the county occupies an interesting edaphic and physiographic transition zone from deep loess hardwood and mixed forest in the southwest to sandy loam piney woods in the east. Not surprisingly, the county serves as a westernmost limit to several southeastern species (e.g., Gelsemium rankinii, Illicium floridanum) and also as a home to residual elements of north-south migrations during periods of North American glaciation (e.g., Pachysandra procumbens, Cynoglossum virginianum). About 900 species were recorded, with one new record for the state (Solidago auriculata) and a confirmation of an unpublished record of Physalis carpenteri in Mississippi.