ve) 
The loose scales of the cup and the pubescense upon the under- 
side of the leaves seem to point to Q. ¢inctoria rather than to 
Q. coccinia, as suggested by Dr. Engelmann as one of its parents. 
But whatever may have been its origin, it is an interesting ques- 
tion whether a plant so widely distributed and so constant in its 
character as Q. /.cana, has not now a sufficiently permanent hold 
of its own upon existence to be considered a species, especially 
as it cannot, even with the broadest extension of any of the rec- 
ognized species, be referred, as a form, to any of these. The 
status of Q. Leana is identical, although it is more widely distrib- 
uted, with that of Q. heterophylla. Both seem to be of compar- 
atively recent hybrid origin, and both have become so fixed in 
character, that it is perhaps permissible to consider them as 
species. Mr. Buckley called attention to the immense size of 
many individual trees in the Big Smoky Mountains. Here, as 
he pointed out, is the true home of Adzes Fraseri, which often 
attains a height of 100 to 150 feet, with a trunk from 3 to 4 
feet in diameter. Halesia here becomes a large forest tree, with 
a clean straight stem, often 60 feet to first branch, and 3 to 4 
feet in diameter. Specimens of sculus flava 4 feet in diam- 
eter, are common, and nowhere else can finer Hemlocks, Lirio- 
dendrons or Chestnuts be seen. //ex monticola becomes a con- 
siderable tree, 30 or 40 feet high, with a trunk 6 to 8 inches in 
diameter. 
Nowhere else, I believe, in North America, can so many 
arborescent species be found in such a limited area, as in the 
Big Smoky Mountains. We counted sixty-eight species, or nearly 
one-sixth of all the arborescent species of North America, north 
of Mexico, between Charleston, on the Tuckaseego, and the 
summit of Andrew’s Bold, a bald spur of Clingman’s Dome, 
5,764 feet above the ocean, the whole distance by the trail being 
but thirteen miles. These bald spots in the Smoky Mountains 
are very generally covered with thickets of Vaccinium Erythro- 
carpon, often 5 or 6 feet high, and which in September were 
loaded with fruit often more obovate than round, and when fully 
ripe, is jet black, shining, very juicy, but rather insipid. The 
bushes everywhere broken down, indicate that the bears find it 
palatable, 
