1126 Some Habitat and Distribution Terms Used 



Distribution of plants. Volumes have been written on this subject. Plants within their 

 area of distribution are distributed as their habitat is distributed. The number of 

 individuals at a station depends much upon a season maturing a great amount of 

 viable seed, which is followed by a season with the optimum conditions for germina- 

 tion and development. Poorly developed seed and adverse conditions for germination 

 and growth result in a paucity of individuals. Probably only once in a life time will 

 one find some species abundant. To confirm this statement I will cite two personal 

 experiences. In 1937 I saw Poly gala verticillata so thick in an open blue grass sod 

 in an open wooded pasture that the whole surface was white over an area of at 

 least two acres. In Indiana this plant is rarely found in numbers exceeding 25 

 specimens at a place. On another occasion I saw Monotropa unifiora so abundant 

 that the ground was white with it over several acres. I revisited the same place at 

 the same date on two successive years and one year found no plants and one year 

 found a few plants. The seasonal variation should be kept in mind. Some plants 

 seem to have cycles of abundance, probably the result of fortuitous and co-ordinating 

 optimum conditions for growth. Annuals fluctuate most of all the types of vegetation. 

 The following terms, which are also used by other authors, are here defined in 

 the sense I use them: 



Abundant. Occurring in large numbers in various places throughout the range 



of the species. 

 Common. Plentiful in all parts of its range. 



Frequent. Evenly distributed throughout its range, but not plentiful. 

 Infrequent. Only occasional throughout its range. 



Local. Species whose habitat is restricted or infrequent in the state, but the num- 

 ber of individuals at a station may vary from a few to many. 

 Rare. Plants apparently not restricted to a particular habitat yet extremely rare 

 in Indiana, such as Anemone caroliniana, Chamaelirium luteum, and Trautvet- 

 teria carolinensis. 

 Dunes. Ridges or hills of wind-blown sand. They vary greatly in extent and in height, 

 from a few feet high to 192 feet (Mt. Tom in Dunes State Park). Dunes are located 

 mostly along Lake Michigan and in the Kankakee River Valley, and when mentioned 

 elsewhere the locality is given. In the dunes and the areas between them grow some 

 species not found elsewhere. The dunes in Lake County are, for the most part, low 

 and those near the lake were wooded mostly with jack pine, birch, and oak. The 

 high dunes in Porter County near Lake Michigan were wooded mostly with white 

 and black oaks, jack and white pines, and basswood. The dunes in the Kankakee 

 River Basin are wooded mostly with oaks. 

 Fallow fields. See fields. 

 Farm pasture. See pastures. 



Fields. This term is applied to areas larger than truck gardens that have been or are 

 cultivated (exclusive of pasture fields). An abandoned field is one that is no longer 

 being cultivated because it has become too rough by erosion or too sterile by sheet 

 washing. A fallow field is one that lies idle because of non-cultivation or has lost 

 part of its fertility which will be restored if left idle for a few years. A cultivated 

 field is one that is being cultivated during the current season. 

 Flats. The flats are level, poorly drained areas in the undissected part of the Illinoian 

 drift section of southeastern Indiana and along Little and Big Pigeon Creeks and 

 the Patoka River in the southwestern part of the state. The soil is a very finely 

 divided white clay with high water-holding capacity. 

 Fork. See streams. 

 Frequent. See distribution of plants. 



Gardens. Gardens are small areas about habitations where vegetables and sometimes 

 some flowers are grown. Truck gardens are larger tracts where vegetables are 

 grown both for home consumption and for the market. 

 Gravel pits. See ponds. 



Hayfields. Hayfields are fields devoted to growing of forage. In Indiana they are 

 called meadows. Since the latter term is popularly not used in a botanical sense, to 

 avoid confusion it has not been used in the flora. 



