Harper : Flora of Middle Georgia 321 



especially in the valleys. With the clay are mixed sand, organic 

 matter, and numerous other constituents in proportions varying 

 according to the local conditions. 



Topographically, the country is quite hilly. The two branches 

 of the Oconee River, known respectively as the Oconee and Mid- 

 dle Oconee, which traverse Clarke County from north to south, 

 are joined by countless smaller creeks and " branches," and all 

 these streams flow in rather deep and narrow valleys between 

 broad rounded ridges. 



The average annual temperature of Athens, which corresponds 

 very closely with the average for middle Georgia, is about 63 °F., 

 with the following averages for the four seasons: spring, 62 ° ; 

 summer, 8o° ; autumn, 64 ° ; winter, 46 . The average annual 

 rainfall is about 55 inches, distributed among the seasons as fol- 

 fows : spring, 14 inches; summer, 13 inches; autumn, 10 

 inches ; winter, 1 8 inches. 



It has been estimated that about one-half the area of Clarke 

 County is covered with forest, of which one-fifth is original and 

 four-fifths second growth. The adjoining counties, which are not 

 so thickly populated, would no doubt show a larger proportion of 

 forest. The original forest is now mostly confined to the steep 

 sides of the valleys, while the second-growth is found on the more 

 level land along the ridge-tops. 



The flora of this region is quite similar in general character to 

 that of the whole belt of country lying at the same elevation along 

 the eastern slope of the Appalachian range from New England to 

 Alabama. A comparison of the flora of Middle Georgia with that 

 of southern New England shows that at least half of the species 

 of each region are common to both. There is less similarity be- 

 tween the flora of Middle Georgia and that of South Georgia, 

 which, although much nearer, belongs to an entirely different floral 

 province. 



In the cool shady primeval forests on the northern slopes of 

 the ridges in Clarke and adjoining counties are found many species 

 which are supposed to be strictly Alleghanian in distribution, some 

 of which are mentioned below. On the other hand, the number 

 of species which reach their northern limits in this region is very 

 small. Of the species which I have collected in Middle Georgia, 



