[MR] Swamp vs marsh (was Re: [Hidden Mountain] Tourney of Diamonds Cancellation)

[Scott Dean]

> Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:12:55 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Stephanie Shelton <ldy_sydney at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [MR] [Hidden Mountain] Tourney of Diamonds Cancellation
> 	Notice
>
> *cough*
>
> We do not have "swamps" in the Lowcountry good Sir. We have marshes.
>
> -Shae
>
>
>   
Alas, I beg to differ.  While I have never been to the site in question, 
I DID grow up in SC and spent a fair amount of time in the Lowcountry.  
There ARE swamps in the Lowcountry and as well as a great deal of 
marsh.  The ACE Basin is largely a combination of swamp and marsh; the 
Santee delta transitions from swamp to marsh about where US 17 crosses 
the river.  Much of the Waccamaw, Black, and Pee Dee Rivers up in 
Georgetown and Horry Counties are technically swamp.  BTW, in my 
understanding, a "swamp" has trees and a "marsh" does not; the primary 
vegetation in a marsh is grasses, reeds, sedges, etc.  Since most of the 
trees are not salt tolerant (growing only in freshwater), there are 
areas where the salinity is too high for trees like cypress and water 
tupelo to grow and those areas tend to be marshes.  That is not to say 
that there are not saltwater swamps in the world.  Mangrove trees are 
salt tolerant (but are tropical so don't grow in SC...)  Alright, 
probably more than you wanted to know (I blame it on my biology 
professor father...).

-- Manus MacDhai
   Seneschal, Canton of Elvegast