246 Nichols: The vegetation of Connecticut 



no means uncommon. They are developed along streams through- 

 out the Central Lowland, while in the Highlands they may occur 

 wherever there are deposits of glacial drift. More often than not 

 they are relatively small and correspondingly unimpressive; but 

 in some cases, particularly in the northern half of the Central 

 Lowland, they may assume considerable size and importance. 



One of the best examples which the writer has examined of a 

 ravine in unconsolidated rock is located in the town of Windsor. 

 It has been scoured out to a depth of perhaps thirty feet from a 

 coarse, sandy substratum through the activity of a small brook 

 which flows into the Farmlngton River from the north. The 

 slopes of the ravine, forested with hemlock, yellow birch, sugar 

 maple, beech, white ash and tulip, contrast sharply with the 

 surrounding upland which is largely overgrown with white pine, 

 oaks, and chestnut. The undergrowth includes many of the herba- 

 ceous and shrubby species which have been listed as characteristic 

 of rock ravines. But along with these grow Lycopodium obscurum, 

 Oakesia sessilifolia, Corylus americana, Geranium niaculatum, 

 Chimaphila umhellata, Pyrola rotundifolia, and Erigeron pulchellus 

 — all plants of relatively dry, open woods. As might be antici- 

 pated, the bryophytic flora is poorly represented. The rock- face 

 and crevice mosses and liverworts, which constitute such a striking 

 feature of the vegetation in rock ravines, are absent. Along the wet, 

 sandy banks of the stream are a few species, such as Pellia epi- 

 phylla, Conocephalum conicum, Mnium hornum, and Catharinaea 

 undulata; but aside from these about the only bryophytes present 

 are a few forms which grow on rotten wood or humus, such as 

 Mnium cuspidatum, Stereodon cupressiformis and Georgia pellucida. 



Ravines in unconsolidated rock compare neither in scenic nor 

 botanic interest with rock ravines. To be sure, all gradations are 

 found between extremely shallow and scarcely perceptible de- 

 pressions, which ordinarily would hardly be classed as ravines, 

 and ravines of considerable depth, with fairly steep sides, like the 

 one at Windsor. As a result of the diversity in environments 

 which it is obvious may thus be afforded by different ravines, 

 all stages of transition may be found between the vegetation of 

 swamps and uplands on the one hand and that of typical ravines 

 on the other. On the average, however, ravines in unconsolidated 



