4-6 THE PLANT WORLD. 



Mount Mena and Mena stations. They are about twelve miles apart. 



Mount Mena is a hill rising about three thousand feet above the 

 level of the sea. The sides of the moiintain are heavily timbered 

 with its original forests, its top spreading out into a broad plateau of 

 improved land. 



There is in this region a happy blending of the Northern and the 

 Southern flora. The botanist who is willing to take things as Nature 

 and not as he would have them to be, as his knowledge of the natural 

 range of North American plants broadens, soon learns that there are 

 no fixed or even discernable east and west zones of our plants. Here 

 he may see the hardy little Mitchella or Partridge berry, as he may 

 also see it in Texas to the Gulf or near it. So the Beech {Ostrya), 

 and the Hornbeam {Carpiiius), are no less truly themselves in the 

 extreme north, than they are when they bathe their roots in the tide- 

 waters of the south. 



Handsome, perhaps the handsomest of our native ferns, is 

 Adiantinn pedatum^ which abounds in moist places on the slopes of 

 the mountain. With it grow Dryopteris acrostic/ioides, Pteris aqiiilina, 

 Onoclca sensibilis, and Osmunda regalis. I did not see Osmunda cinna- 

 moinea here, though it is common in' eastern Texas. 



Our Linden or Basswood is common. So is Magnolia acuminata^ 

 but M. macropJiylla^ whose immense leaves are two to three feet long 

 and a foot in its greatest width, is rare. 



Yellow Locust {Robinid) is native here, and also Sambuciis Cana- 

 densis, Cornus Florida, Moonseed, Sassafras, Witch-hazel, Chinquepin, 

 Red Mulberry and Persimmon. Our common Black Raspberry grows 

 on the mountain. Ginseng is abundant, also Poke {Phytolacca), the 

 common Mullein, the Jewel-weed {Iinpatiens fnlva), and our queer 

 Porcupine Grass {Hystrix). 



In springy places about Mena, Sweet Gum is common. There 

 are few if any of our other native forest trees that come so near Sugar 

 Maple in beautiful and symmetrical growth as a shade tree. Near 

 the city are large groves of this species, which should be preserved 

 as pleasure resorts. The wood of Sweet Gum takes a high polish and 

 is almost as valuable in cabinet-work, and will soon have to take the 

 place of Black Walnut. The Tupelo or Pepperidge {Nyssa), in ex- 

 tending from Maine to southern Texas, is largely represented here. 

 Its leaves color handsomely in early autumn. In no other place have 

 I seen a greater display of Golden Rods {Solidago). They are mainly 

 southern species, several of them certainly being worthy of garden 

 culture. Among species of Liatris, the handsome L. elegans is con- 

 spicuous. Solidago odor a, Liatris elegans, LLeliantJins angnstifolius. 

 Lobelia cardinalis, and L. syphilitica., make a handsome combination. 



