FLORA OF WASHINGTON AND VICINITY. 19 



of N. E. Virginia, published in tlie work of General J. G. Barnard on. 

 the Defenses of Washington^ 1871. 



From the former the names of many roads, streams, estates, «&c., have 

 been obtained, while from the latter those of forts, batteries, &c., are 

 often employed as more convenient. In this respect, however, much 

 remains to be desired. While the military map is much antiquated, the 

 other is frequently both defective in omitting what is required, and 

 incorrect in erroneously locating streams and other objects well known 

 to the writer. In his extensive rambles he has learned many local names 

 not found on the maps, and in a few cases of special botanical interest 

 where names are wholly wanting he has long been in the habit of desig- 

 natiug the localities by names of his own christening, and for which he- 

 offers no apology. 



The following are a few of the principal places of botanical interest 

 which will be found to recur most frequently in the notes, and for this, 

 reason brief descriptions of them are appended. 



1. The Rock Creek Region. 



Rock Creek, which forms the boundary line between Washington and 

 Georgetown (West Washington), has escaped to a remarkable degree- 

 the iuroads of agriculture and population. For the greater j)art of its 

 length within the District of Columbia, its banks are still finely wooded 

 for some distance back and afford a rich and varied field for botanical 

 exploration. The character of the surface along Rock Creek is most 

 beautiful and picturesque, often rocky and hilly, with frequent deep- 

 ravines coming down into the usually narrow bottom through which it 

 flows. The stream itself is full of the most charming curves, and the- 

 whole region is an ideal park. Xo one can see it without thinking how 

 admirably it is adaj)ted for a National Park. Such a park might be 

 made to extend from Oak Hill Cemetery to the Military Road opposite 

 Brightwood, having a width of a mile or a mile and a half. Not only 

 every botanist, but every lover of art and nature must sigh at the pros- 

 pect, now not far distant, of beholding this region devastated by the ax 

 and the plow. The citizens of Washington should speedily unite and 

 strenuously urge upon Congress the importance of early rescuing this 

 ready-made National Park from such an unfortunate fate.* 



* It is remarkable that when committees of Congress have been appointed, as they 

 several times have been, to consider a site for a National Park, they have usually looked 

 in other directions and seemed to ignore the existence of this region, which is cer- 

 tainly the only one that possesses any natural claims. A mere carriage-ride through 



