PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 49 



NOTES OiV THE NATIVE TREES OF THE I,OAVER ^VABASH AIVI> 

 WHITE KITER VAI,r,EVS, IN Il,I.IIVOIS AN© INUIAIVA. 



By ROBERT RIDGWAY. 



[The accompanying notes on the forest-growth of the Lower Wabash Valley were 

 prepared originally for the use of Professor Sargent in his report upon the forest trees 

 of North America for the Tenth Census. It being impossible, however, for him to 

 utilize more than occasional extracts, he suggested to the writer their publication "ui 

 toto in some convenient form," so that all interested in this important subject might 

 have the benefit of these observations. It is, therefore, in deference to Professor Sar- 

 gent's advice that the present paper is herewith presented.] 



INTRODUCTION. 



Although the flekl of this paper ostensibly iacliides the valley of the 

 Wabash and that of its main tributary, White River, from the mouth of 

 the former stream north to where the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad 

 crosses them both (or from latitude 37^' 50' to 38° 50', approximately), 

 it is proper to state that actual investigations have been made at very 

 few points within the district named, and chiefly in the immediate 

 vicinity of Mount Carmel, Wabash County, Illinois, which alone has 

 been carefully explored. In the limited area .comprised within five 

 miles' radius from Mount Carmel, 86 species of trees have been found 

 growing wild, including several which are commonly classed as shrubs, 

 but which there grow to a height of 30 feet or more. Rather protracted 

 observations in Knox County, Indiana, some twenty-five miles to the 

 northeast of Mount Carmel, and in Posey County, 20 miles or more 

 southward, did not increase the list, but extremely desultory observa- 

 tions, made by Dr. J. Schneck, of Mount Carmel, in Gallatin County, 

 Illinois, near the mouth of the Wabash River, where the country is very 

 broken, resulted in the addition of Juniperus virginiana, Chamccmjparis. 

 sph(vroi(lea, and a Pimis ;* while White County, the next one south of 

 Wabash, adds one more [Aralia .spinosa). Bobinia psendacacia occurs 

 l)lentifully in the hilly districts in the southern part of both Illinois and 

 Indiana, but has not been met with in the wild state by the writer. 



Halesia tetraptera is quoted from Evansville, Ind. (only forty miles 

 south of Mount Carmel), and from " Southern Illinois"; while the Prince 

 Maximilian von Wied, who passed one winter (October 10, 1832, to 

 March 10, 1833) at New Harmony, Posey County, gives, in his Beise in 

 das innere Nor d- America^] vol. i, p. 209, a list of about 60 species of 

 trees which came under his observation in that vicinity, and among 

 which are included several which have not been found by Dr. Schneck or 

 myself, though it should be stated that our observations in Posey County 

 have been confined to a very limited field. These species are, " Jwjlans'''' 



* It is as yet undetermined whether the species is P. mitis or P. inoi)s. 

 t Published in Coblenz, 1839. 



Proc. Nat. Mus. 82 4 June IS, 1 § 8^5. 



