324 George E. Nichols, 



the ground is covered very largely vv^ith a dense tangle of low, 

 sprawling shrubs which are seldom more than a foot high. 

 Perhaps the most characteristic, and commonly the predominant 

 shrub is the crowberry, but associated with this and often equally 

 abundant may be Juniperiis communis depressa, Vaccinium 

 Vitis-Idaea, V. pennsylvanicum, and occasionally Juniperus hori- 

 zontalis. Other species commonly encountered on bleak, exposed 

 headlands, but not yet mentioned in this connection, are listed 

 below. 



Botrychium ramosum Cornus canadensis 



Smilacina stellata Gaulthena procumhens 



Iris setosa canadensis Halenia deflexa 



Myrica carolinensis Euphrasia Randii 



Arenaria lateriflora Euphrasia Randii Farlozvii 



Fragaria virginiana Campanula rotundifolia 



Potentilla tridentata Solidago puberula 



Lathyrus palustris Aster novi-helgii 

 Ligusticum scothicum 



To these should be added Cladonia sp., Polytrichum piliferum, 

 and Polytrichum juniperinum, which frequently carpet the bare 

 soil where other vegetation is absent. 



C. THE ASSOCIATION-COMPLEXES OF BEACHES AND DUNES 



Association-types of shingle beaches. — Even along parts of the 

 coast which are exposed to active erosion, at least where the 

 eroding land mass consists of glacial drift, a rocky, beach-like 

 strip commonly intervenes between the foot of the bluff and the 

 water's edge. Such deposits may be composed in part of wave- 

 washed material, but as a rule they are largely made up of 

 boulders and cobbles of all sizes which have been washed out of 

 the bluff itself. The analogy with the boulder plain is obvious. 

 All degrees of transition exist between such deposits, which may 

 be virtually destitute of vegetation, and the typical shingle 

 beaches, which constitute a familiar feature along the shore. 

 These latter commonly form a narrow fringe along the seaward 

 edge of the land, but wherever there are reentrants in the coast 

 line, barriers and spits tend to be developed. St. Ann's Bay and 

 Ingonish Harbor are nearly closed in by narrow, rocky spits. 



