300 



Relic Species 

 Artemisia caudata Calamovilfa longifolia (as individ- 



Salix syrticola als rather than in bunches) 



Salix glaucophylla (not common) Sporoholus cryptandrns 

 Jiincus halticus littoraUs (not 

 common) 



Invading Species 

 Poteiitilla fruticosa J unipcriis communis depressa 



Sisyrinchium sp. ? ( few ) 



Popidus dcltoides (small) Jnniperus horizontalis (few) 



Salix longifolia 



The SPOROBOI.US HETEROLEPIS-SORGHASTRUM NUTANS CONSOCIES 



This consocies, which has been more widely extended in the past 

 than it is at present, is quite similar to ordinar>^ prairie. For the 

 most part the consocies has been succeeded by Qucrcns velutina, but 

 in a few places between the oak ridges there still remain small char- 

 acteristic areas of it. Four bunch-grasses are its dominant species. 

 The two after which it is named are most abundant. The others are 

 Andropogon scopariiis and A. fiircahis. The largest and most con- 

 spicuous of the bunch-grasses is Sorghastrum nutans, which grows in 

 tufts rather than bunches. It is, perhaps, the most persistent as a 

 relic in the association that has followed. Sporoholus heterolepis it- 

 self grows in rather good-sized bunches which are usually ringlike, 

 the open area in the center being a flat mound of blackish dirt. The 

 stems and leaves are thin and wiry, and the plant as a whole has a 

 rather delicate appearance. In parts of this region this grass may 

 occupy 60 per cent, of the area. Andropogon furcatus, which grows 

 in small bunches, aids in giving a general character to the area, but 

 it is the least important of the four bunch-grasses mentioned. It 

 seldom occupies more than 10 per cent, of the area, but it will per- 

 sist under the oaks almost as well as the Sorghastrnni. Andropogon 

 scoparius, whose bunches have already been described, occupies from 

 30 to 50 per cent, of the area. It is smaller in size and does not give 

 so much character to the vegetation. It grows out in the open parts 

 of the association and, while it does persist in the Quercus velutina 

 association, it does so only in the open places. In the autumnal as- 

 pect these four bunch-grasses occupy about 97 per cent, of the area, 

 the remaining 3 per cent, being secondary species. Some of the lat- 

 ter are interstitials, as Arcnaria sfricta; others are grasses, as Spartina 

 michauxiana and Poa cojupressa; and still others are invaders from 



