BOTANICAL SUEVEY— SUGAR GROVE REGION 



i91 



possessed by all evergreen undergrowth in being able to carry on photo- 

 synthesis during the months when the trees are bare. But they labor 

 under a disadvantage which very strikingly limits tbcni to a peculiar 

 class of habitats — namely, those wliich are free fi-oiii a covering of 

 fallen leaves. 



The situation Avill 1)(> evident from the consideration of a typical 

 case, that of the Rattlesnake plantain, Peramium puhescens (fig. 25). Its 

 rosettes of leaves do not appear until late in tlie season. l)ut persist 

 through the winter and well into the following season. With its pros- 

 trate stem fixed on the ground, and its slow growth, it has no means of 

 surmounting a covering of leaves, so that if deeply covered it is 

 inevitably smothered. Not only is it deprived of light during the 

 winter; it sends up no erect shoots to pierce the leafy blanket in the 

 spring. The plant grows in varied hal)itats, such as rocks, hemlock 



Fig. 25. RnttlpsiKike Plantain (Piiatiiiuni i)iil)cscen,s ; on a lloulder in the forest. 



forests, bare soil, and the ])anks of sti-eams. Youtiu' planls may lie roiiiil 

 almost anywhere, as would be expected from seeds scattered by the 

 wind, but wcll-dcvclopcd clumps arc only to b(> found in silualions 

 renuiiiiing ncail\' free I'lom a wiiiliT covering of leaves. Win'ii. per- 



