20 • CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Much of the region east and southeast of the District is fairly 

 level upland occupied by cultivated fields and correspondingly 

 uninteresting from a botanical standpoint, but here and there, 

 especially along the streams, are bits of land supporting an indigenous 

 flora. 



One of the most interesting features of the Coastal Plain area is 

 the bogs. These are discussed at length by W. L. McAtee in his 

 "Sketch of the Natural History of the District of Columbia." 1 The 

 bogs are there designated as magnolia bogs because one of the con- 

 spicuous plants found in them is Magnolia virginiana. One group 

 of these, known as Powder Mill bogs, lies about 2 miles west of Ulles 

 Crossing, a station on the trolley line south of Beltsville. There are 

 three bogs in the vicinity, the best of which is near the crossroads, 

 hidden in the woods and not visible from the road. A very interesting 

 one is situated about one and a half miles southeast of Suitland, and 

 there are several others scattered here and there. These bogs are 

 usually on a sloping surface near a small stream and are underlaid 

 with a stratum of gravel. The boggy covering may be very thin, 

 and there are often spots of bare wet gravel. Surrounding these 

 bogs is the usual forest growth, but within them the vegetation is 

 herbaceous except for spots or islands of shrubs. There is more or 

 less sphagnum and often an abundance of Panicum lucidum. Some 

 of the characteristic plants are : Lycopodium adpressum, Erioplwrum 

 virginicum, Rynchospora alba, Scleria pauciflora, Fuirena hispida, 

 Xyris caroliniana, Eriocaulon decanyulare, Tofieldia racemosa, Hab- 

 enaria blephariglottis, Pogonia ophioglossoides, Limodorum tuberosum, 

 Ilabenaria clavellata, Myrica carolinensis, Magnolia virginiana, Drosera 

 rotundifolia and D. intermedia, Aronia melanocarpa, AmelancMer 

 oblongifolia, Poly gala cruciata, Rhexia virginica, Azalea viscosa, Kalmia 

 angustifolia, Setiscapella subulata, Viburnum cassinoides, Eupatorium 

 verb enae folium. 



The lower Potomac region is ricli in marsh plants. Much of the 

 upper part of the Eastern Branch or Anacostia River estuary is 

 occupied by an extensive marsh of Indian rice. There are marshes 

 bordering the right bank of the Potomac between Washington and 

 Mount Vernon. A convenient station for reaching this region is 

 Dyke, from which one can penetrate the marsh on a long dike extend- 

 ing into the river. Here may be found pickerel-weed, Peltandra 

 virginica, narrow-leaved cat-tail, yellow pondlily, pondweeds, and 

 many other marsh and aquatic plants. The collector of aquatic 

 plants should not fail to explore also the waters of the canal, where 

 many pondweeds are found. 



In contrast with the bogs and marshes are the dry sterile woods 

 characterize d by the presence of the laurel ( Kalmia latifolia) . Thick- 



1 Bull. Biol. Soc. Washington. Pp. 1-142. 1918. 



