Hill: Penobscot Plants. 299 



soon restricted to the most favorable places. Small in his 

 "History of Swans Island"' describes this change in the type 

 of forests on that island. "When the island was discovered 

 by Europeans it was entirely covered with a dense forest of 

 hardwood trees w^iich attained great size as shown by the 

 enormous stumps found throughout the forest by the older 

 inhabitants. After the first growth was cut off the land 

 was burned over. This was injurious to the soil where it 

 covered rocky land and much of its richness was washed into 

 the valleys and thence into the ocean. The next growth on 

 this impoverished soil was much smaller and can be remem- 

 bered by many of the older inhabitants. When this forest 

 was in turn cleared its place was taken by the stunted growth 

 of spruce and fir which now covers the greater part of the 

 island." 



It is apparent that the Alleghanian plants, which in isolated 

 localities have survived this extermination, represent relic 

 species of a flora once widespread. As stated above, certain 

 Alleghanian species, other than the rich woods types, are 

 more widely distributed in the region. These species, how- 

 ever, are more tolerant of soil conditions and are able to per- 

 sist in some of the acid areas. 



Probably contemporaneous with the preceding element the 

 Carolinian element of the austral flora went northward along 

 the coastal plain from centers of distribution in the southeast. 

 In its maximum development this coastal plain flora extends 

 only to jSTew Jersey. Britton' and Hollick,' however, have 

 shown that certain of these coastal plain plants are found on 



1. Small. A History of Swans Island, Maine. Ellsworth, 1898. 



2. Britton. On the Northward Extension of the N. J. Pine Barren 



Flora on Long and Staten Islands. Bull Torr. Bot. Club 7: 81 



(1880). 



3. Hollick. Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci. 11: 55 (1892); 13: 387 (1894). 



Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 12: 189 (1893); 13: 8 (1894). 



