PI^ANTS O'F SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY. iii 



sively and land so well cleared and cultivated that anything like 

 a natural swamp or bog- is now almost unknown. The introduc- 

 tion of cattle and the influx of weeds soon w^ork havoc with a bog- 

 or swamp so far as the botanist is concerned. 



The relation between the New Jersey Pine Barrens and the 

 coastal plain to the north and south is of interest. 



With the lack of definite knowledge of the limits of the Pine 

 Barrens and of the plants which are really characteristic of the 

 region, it has been hitherto difficult to clearly consider the ques- 

 tion. 



Dr. Roland Harper has suggested that the New Jersey Pine 

 Barrens form a well-defined center of distribution and are iso- 

 lated from the Pine Barrens of Wilmington, N. C, which he re- 

 regards as the next clearly marked Pine Barren center as we go 

 down the coast, although he admits that the apparent lack of Pine 

 Barren plants in the intervening country may be due merely to 

 lack of knowledge. 



In the recent report on the flora of Maryland Mr. Forrest 

 Shreve* shows pretty conclusively that the lack of Pine Barren 

 plants, so far as that State is concerned, is real. He says (p. 87) 

 that the only Pine Barren species on the coastal plain of Mary- 

 land are Cyperus grayi, Srnilax walteri, Polygala lutea, Ilex 

 glabra and Sderolepis uniflora. 



All of these occur locally outside of the Pines in New Jersey, 

 though they are most abundant in that region. Of Mr. Shreves' 

 list of 94 characteristic plants of the coastal plain of Maryland ; 

 twenty do not occur as far north as New Jersey, but are not 

 Pine Barren species; of the remainder 40 are restricted to the 

 Middle, Coast or Cape May Districts of New Jersey (of which 

 4 have been found as stragglers in the Pines), while 28 are 

 quite as abundant, or more abundant, in the Middle District, 

 although they do occur in the Pine Barrens. To his five Pine 

 Barren plants I should add from Mr. Shreves' Coastal Plain 

 list Ascyrum stans, which in New Jersey is quite as typical of the 

 Pines as the five he mentions. 



It is obvious from this data that the coastal plain flora of 



* Maryland Weather Service, Vol. Ill, 1910. 



