1919^ The Distribution of Rhododendron Catawbiense 81 



and larger than the high mountain form. I therefore think it best 



to give the mid-State plant a form name and propose to call it. 



Rhododendron catawMense f. insxjlaris n. forma. 



Differs from the type in the larger and broader leaves and in the longer 



flowers. North Carolina: On precipitous bluffs by streams, lower 



Piedmont and Coastal Plain. 



As the streams along which our form grows are not connected in 

 any way with the territory occupied by the type, and as the respective 

 areas are so widely separated, it is highly probable that there has 

 been no intermixture for a good many thousand years. This terri- 

 torial segregation would in itself almost justify the separation of the 

 forms even though little or no structural distinction Avere obvious, 

 and it would perhaps be justifiable to give the Kings and Crowders 

 Mountain form a distinctive name also. It is probable that at all 

 these widely separated stations the plants are a little different, though 

 the differences are hard to distinguish. 



In our map of distribution (PI. 22) we have given only a few 

 scattered locations in the high mountains, but have indicated all that 

 we know of with certainty at altitudes of less than 2,500 feet. The 

 species is also found on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, and as far 

 south as Albertville, Marshall County, Alabama (Harbison). 



It may be well to add a word as to the eastward extension of R. 

 maximum. It extends to about Hickory in the center and has been 

 reported as extending into Surry and Gaston Counties on the north 

 and south (Pinchot and Ashe, IST. C. Geol. Survey Bull. 6: 68. 

 1897). As Surry reaches the mountains we would expect it in 

 abundance there, but its occurrence in Gaston seemed so improbable 

 that I wrote Mr. Ashe for confirmation,, and he replied that he 

 thinks this record a mistake due to confusion with R. cataivhiense. 

 We can now report it about sixty miles farther east at Yadkin Col- 

 lege on the Yadkin River, Davidson County. We have also found 

 it about one mile below Buffalo Shoals Bridge on the Catawba 

 (Statesville-Hickory road). 



The species is, of course, abundant down the eastern slopes of the 

 mountains and on the nearby hills as far as Lenoir and Hickory, 

 while 7?. cataivhiense, while scarce and scattered, continues its descent 

 eastward to far lower altitudes. 



