Quote:
Originally Posted by arbeiter
It is nice but kind of misleading. It's largely ashe juniper which barely grows taller than 15 feet, it's a very scrubby tree. It's kind of like a Texas version of chaparral - actual woodland areas are usually only found next to the water.
|
True. A lot of it has to do with the limestone coming so close to the surface in the hills. Really close. The deep soils start immediately east of the escarpment, precipitation increases too, and tree height increases noticeably. The trees get higher and denser as you head east through and out of Austin (except for a 20 mile wide strip of farmland) and then the vegetation phases into more of an eastern regime for the next 250 miles within the state. By the time you get to about Huntsville, about 150 miles to the east, it looks just like the deep south piney woods (well, I guess it IS the deep south piney woods). It's a very interesting study in trees, plants, and topography.