337 
in diameter, and laden with the large and beautiful blossoms. It 
particularly affects the rocky and wooded banks of water courses, the 
spreading spray overhanging the stream. Both routes were made 
glorious, also, by endless displays. of Azalea calendulacea and of 
Kalmia, both in their prime, backed by a wealth of greenery, 
and offering to our admiration varied hues and new combinations at 
every turn.* ; 
Roan Mountain, wnich the main party reached on the 16th, 
and the detachment the following day, rises upon the boundary be- 
tween North Carolina and Tennessee. It reaches a height of 6,306 
feet according to Guyot’s measurement. Though inferior in eleva- 
tion to many of the wooded peaks of the Black Mountains and of 
the Smoky Range, its ample and varied summit is bare of trees, and 
for that reason the more attractive to botanists as well as to lovers 
of mountain views. Dr. Gray visited it in 1841 and again, with a 
portion of the present party, in 1876. ‘The observations made by him 
on his first visit are recorded in 4m. Jour. Science, 1st ser. Vol. XLII., 
pp. 1-49. (Oct., 1841). Other botanists have since visited it, and its 
flora has been pretty well explored. Good carriage roads to the 
summit from each side have now made it very accessible, and a com- 
fortable, well-kept hotel has been established upon it, sothat henceforth 
it will be a popular resort. Dr. Gray has well said that it is the most 
beautiful mountain east of the Rockies. It has not the stern desola- 
tion of Mt. Washington’s shattered dome, but instead presents a 
grassy park of hundreds of acres, studded with copses of the brilliant 
Rhododendron Catawbiense. When the party reached. the summit, 
this lovely shrub, in countless numbers, was just opening its crimson 
and rosy flowers, and surely no floral display could be richer. Be- 
neath the rhododendrons, and also in the crevices of the rocky 
ledges, were rich cushions studded with the white stars of © 
Leiophyllum buxifolium, of a variety which, from its depressed and com- 
pact growth, Dr. Gray has called prostratum. The natives call it 
mountain heather. The grassy sward was blue with large patches 
of Houstonia serpyllifolia, of more decided color and forming larger 
mats than our own ceru/ea. Upon the higher ledges at the east and 
west ends of the mountain were found Geum radiatum just coming 
into flower and, sparingly, Gewm gentcudatum. A stunted and very 
pretty variety of Houstonia purpurea was common in exposed stony 
places, and on the precipitous cliffs below the bluff grew Sedum Rho- 
diola, On the rocky ledges on the brow of the mountain were col- 
lected Saxifraga leucanthemtfolia (hardly yet in flower,) Carex juncea, 
Carex canescens, var. vitilis, Menstesta globularts, and Vaccintcum ery- 
throcarpon with its curious revolute corolla—a cranberry-blossom upon 
a whortle-berry bush! Potentilla tridentata on the open rocks, and 
Clintonia borealis with Oxalis Acetosella growing in the shade of the 
balsams reminded one of the mountains of New England and New 
York, and so did Matanthemum Canadense in the mossy cushions 
* Euphorbia Darlingtonii seems to abound on the western slopes of the Blue 
Ridge all the way to Virginia, and is especially prevalent in Ashe Co. 
A. G. 
