236 THE MOUNTAIN. 



THE UNDERWOOD, BUSH, OR HEATH-GROWTH 

 OF THE MOUNTAIN. 



The transition, from the regular forest-tree to the shrub 

 or bush, is gradual. That portion of the forest which is 

 called heath, or coppice, is composed of true woody plants — 

 that is, plants formed of woody fibre, with perennial roots 

 and stems, and either evergreen or deciduous leaves. 



On the mountain the representatives of this department 

 are numerous. Some of these plants have the dimensions 

 of small trees, but never grow to what are called forest- 

 trees, and many of them are of exceeding beauty, and some 

 of value. Where the growth of other larger trees permits 

 it, they form clusters highly ornamental, filling the mid-air 

 spaces of the taller trees with an array of foliage sometimes 

 in fine contrast with the leaves of the larger varieties. As 

 a class, they are comely and attractive, and occupy spaces 

 that seemed otherwise to be vacant. Many of them belong 

 to classes of larger trees, and have been already enumerated 

 among them, as the smaller species of Acer, Cerasus, but 

 never grow beyond a few inches in diameter of stem. To 

 them, in the descending scale, succeeds the order of true 

 shrubs. Of this class of small, woody plants there is an ex- 

 tensive and diversified field. A perfect catalogue in this 

 department would be an agreeable undertaking, but such a 

 task could not be attempted in a running schedule. A few 

 of the prominent species are all that can be enumerated now, 

 and, to commence with some of the smaller plants connect- 

 ing the bush of the mountain with the forest-tree, take the 

 genus OsTRYA. This is the hop-hornbeam, or iron-wood. 

 The species Yirginica grows here, often achieving forty-five 

 feet in height. The hard, compact wood of this little tree 

 is useful, and the tree graceful in its form. 



Carpinus Americana is an allied plant, smaller in dimen- 



