CO:MrETITION BETWEEN OAKS. 



115 



U\Y\ or a little before, not only contributed to the comfort and 

 enjoyment of future generations, but also laid the foundations 

 for an ecological experiment which it would take many years 

 to perform designedly, as will be explained below. 



Quercus ii'ujra is a species of very variable habitat and 

 pretty wide distribution in the southeastern states, and may asso- 

 ciate in nature with oitlier of tlie other two species above men- 

 tioned. But Q. PlwUos and Q. laurifolia. while their ranges 



Figure 20, (left). Sliiercus Phellos (in center) and Qjiercus laurifolia, on Uni- 

 versity of Alabama campus, May 5, 1906. 

 Figure 21, (right). Same as Fig. 20, but taken March 10, 1906. (The negatives of 

 both pictures are the property of the Geological Survey of Alabama.) 



are in part co-extensive, have quite different habitats, and never 

 associate with each other naturally. Both seem to thrive equally 

 well in cultivation, however, and they are mixed indiscrimi- 

 nately on the campus, the persons who had the planting in 

 charge perhaps not realizing that they were different species. 

 They are indeed very similar (one was made a variety of the 



