1905] Harper, — Coastal Plain Plants in New England 69 
Carex rostrata, Stokes. This species, which Mr. C. H. Bissell 
has reported from Salisbury, the extreme northwestern town of the 
State (RHopoRA, V. 33), occurs also in the town of Franklin, in the 
southeastern section of the State. It is abundant here in a wet 
sphagnous bog near Ayer’s Mountain. 
Mr. M. L. Fernald has kindly examined the above mentioned 
plants, and pronounces them correctly named. 
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT. 
COASTAL PLAIN PLANTS IN NEW ENGLAND. 
RoLAND M. HARPER. 
THE coastal plain of the Eastern United States is defined as that 
part of the country adjoining the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and 
underlaid by Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks. From the mouth of 
the Hudson River to the Rio Grande and beyond, it extends in an 
uninterrupted belt of varying width but with unmistakable characters, 
differing considerably from other parts of the country not only in soil, 
topography and flora but even in population. In the Atlantic states, 
where the coastal plain is bordered on the west by the Piedmont 
region of ancient crystalline rocks, its inland boundary is very well 
marked, and is known as the fallline, because most of the rivers 
which cross it have falls or rapids at the point of intersection. The 
fall-line passes through or near the following cities (and determines 
the location of most of them) : — New York, Trenton, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Columbia, Augusta, 
Macon and Columbus. West of Georgia the inland boundary of the 
coastal plain is said to be less conspicuous, but it has been traced 
from Tuscaloosa, Ala., almost due north to the southern extremity of 
Illinois, thence south westward into Mexico. 
East of New Jersey there is no genuine fall-line, but most of Long 
Island, Cape Cod, and the islands of southern New England also 
belong to the coastal plain, according to definition, though owing to 
certain geological peculiarities these regions are not quite typical, 
_ and are usually discussed separately. 
Several interesting papers have been written on the occurrence of 
* pine-barren plants? on Staten Island, Long Island, and the coastal 
