475 
From Harlan I went up the Poor Fork of the Cumberland, by 
the same primitive conveyance, to Poor Fork Postoffice, about 
twenty-one miles above Harlan. Here, at the house of the worthy 
and hospitable postmaster, I stayed for nearly a month. 
The Poor Fork flows through a narrow valley between two 
ranges of the Cumberland system, the Big Black and the Pine 
' Mountain. The Big Black Mountain is over 3,000 feet high at 
points; the Pine is much lower. In geological formation, the 
district is almost entirely sandstone and shale. On the Pine there 
is an occasional outcropping of limestone. 
In the immediate vicinity of Poor Fork I collected Campanula 
divaricata, Michx., Hydrastis Canadensis, L., Panicum capillare 
campestre, Gattinger, and Panicum ramulosum, Michx. (growing 
on moist shale on the river bank). A form of Acalypha Virginica 
L. with every part, even the bracts, much reduced in size, was 
abundant in a low, sandy field. 
On the Big Black Mountain, Azalea lutea, L.; Gahum Jlati- 
folium, Michx.; Carex aestivalis, M. A. Curtis; Zrautvetteria Caro- 
linensis (Walt.) A. M. Vail; Astzilbe, diternata (Vent.) Britt. (A. de- 
andra, Don.) and Holcus lanatus, L., appeared. 
On a spur of the Big Black known as Benham’s Spur, Panax 
guinquefolia, ..; Thalictrum coriaceum (Britt.) Small*; Aruncus 
Aruncus (L.) Karst.; Magnolia Fraseri, Walt.; Hystrix Hystrizx 
(L.) MacMillan, and Corycarpus diandrus (Michx.) Kuntze were 
found. 
The Pine Mountain presented a more varied and interesting 
flora. Magnolia macrophylla, Michx., very conspicuous because 
of the whitened under surface of its huge leaves, with large ovoid 
or semi-globose cones of a dull flesh-color, Solidago erecta, Pursh, 
Aster leiophyllus lanceolatus, Porter, Meibonnia laevigata (Nutt.) 
Kuntze, Clintonia umbellata (Michx.) Torr., Disporum lanuginosum 
(Michx.) Britt. and Pogonia trianthophora (Sw.) B. S. P. were 
collected on its slopes. 
A ledge of exposed, dry sandstone at the summit yielded Cap- 
 noides sempervirens (L.) Borkh., Lechea racemulosa,.Michx., rather 
depauperate specimens of Guaphalium Hellen, Britt., Eupatorium 
* Mem, Torr. Club, iv. 96. 
