CLIMAX COMMUNITIES : PRESENT DISTRIBUTION 



249 



of the high Appalachians. To the west, southwest, and east it is 

 found only in ravines and deep valleys. To the northwest, it is 

 represented in southern Ohio by a mixed hardwood forest of far 

 fewer species. 



Beech-Maple Association— The northward extension of the 

 mixed mesophytic forest shows an increasing importance of beech 



FlG. 121. Virgin white pine (Pinus strobus) forest in Connecticut, of the 

 type that once occurred over wide areas in the northeast.— U. S. Forest Serv- 

 ice. 



(Fagns grandifolia) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum). North of 

 the boundary of Wisconsin glaciation, they are the climax species 

 over an area west of the Alleghenies from New York to Ohio and 

 up into Wisconsin. 31 Virgin forest in Michigan showed beech pre- 

 dominating over maple, and associates included red maple (A. 

 rubrum), elm (Ulmns america?ia), red oak (Quercus borealis var. 

 maxima) and black cherry (Primus serotina).^ The original for- 

 ests of southwest Michigan, as reconstructed from land survey 

 records, were beech-maple on good sites and oak-hickory on 

 coarse soils with poor moisture conditions. 139 This conforms with 

 present conditions and can be interpreted as climax and preclimax. 

 Maple-Basszvood Association- -The natural range of beech does 



