Perhaps some of the best examples of remaining maritime
forests exist on the relatively small islands within the coastal
saltmarsh. Most of these roughly 3,500 islands greater than
0.1 acre, often called hammocks or hummocks, have been
isolated long enough from human activity to allow them to
revert to good representations of maritime forests. Most are
relatively small with about 88% being 10 acres or less. These
islands typically have relatively low relief although the few
that are the remnants of ancient sand dune ridges may
rise up 30 feet.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
(SCDNR) conducted a hammock island biological inventory
study of 350 hammocks a few years ago led in the field by
well-known naturalist Billy McCord. This was the most
extensive such study of its kind in South Carolina. Embedded
in the larger survey was a seasonal study of 25 islands
including several near Kiawah Island. At that time, McCord
identified at least 24 different plant communities, all of
which could reasonably be included as subsets of the broadly
defined maritime forest.
These various habitats contribute to a mosaic that is much
more complex than the simple descriptions of most maritime
forests. Among the habitats described was the traditional
maritime forest that included live oak, laurel oak, loblolly
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pine or slash pine, cabbage palmetto, yaupon, red bay, wild
olive, and wax myrtle. This habitat was typically found at
the higher elevations on the islands and gave way to other
habitats, like the salt shrub thicket, as the island sloped down
to the marsh. The salt shrub thickets may include sea ox-eye,
marsh elder, cordgrass, spear orach, Judas bush, southern
red cedar, and groundsel tree. Another community often
embedded within a maritime forest is the evergreen shrub
thicket. These were composed mainly of yaupon, red bay, wax
myrtle, wild olive, Carolina laurel cherry, and sparkleberry, as
well as other shrubs and vines.
A habitat of particular interest within the maritime forest
is the oyster shell/high calcium community. Most soils in
maritime forests are typically acidic, but this habitat has basic
soil consisting of weathered oyster shell or exposed marl.
Oyster shell accumulations are the result of activities of Native
Americans or wind-thrown shell and are generally considered
significant archeological sites. Because of the high amount
of calcium levels in the soil, these locations often have plants
that are unusual, if not very rare, in the coastal region.
Godfrey’s privet is found on the islands and is among the
rarest shrubs in South Carolina, being restricted to high shell
mounds. Leafless swallow-wort is another rare species found
here as is small flowered buckthorn. Other high-calcium
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