﻿The Flora of the Lower Susquehanna. 



By Thos. Conrad Porter. 



(With Map, Plate 349.) 



Whilst residing in the city of Lancaster, from the year 1853 to 

 1866, I did a great deal of botanical exploration along the valley 



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of the Lower Susquehanna, passing over much of the ground vis- 

 ited by Muhlenberg half a century before. The rarer pteridophy- 

 tes and anthophytes then and there observed and collected are 

 comprised in the following list, with a few additions of a later date. 



As an introduction, a brief sketch of the field is given, accom- 

 panied by a map, in which the figures appended to the stations in- 

 dicate their elevation in feet above the sea level. 



Below Duncan's Island, where it receives the waters of the 

 Juniata from the west, the general course of the river is south- 

 easterly, and the distance from that point to the Maryland line, 

 measured as the crow flies, about 70 miles. In breadth it varies 

 from two miles to less than one, the average being one. At the 

 canon-like gorge above McCall's Ferry the channel is very deep 

 and narrow, apparently not more than one hundred yards across. 

 The wider portions of the stream are characterized by an abun- 

 dance of islands, large and small, some of them under cultivation 

 and others bare or covered with shrubs and trees. Many of them 

 are completely submerged during high freshets. When the sum- 

 mers are hot and dry for a long period the waters become very 

 low, forming, where the fall is not great, extensive, sluggish shal- 

 lows that furnish excellent nurseries for aquatic plants. 



Starting at Duncannon, in Perry County, and going southward, 

 the stations -cited in the list succeed each other thus (the number 

 of miles apart being expressed by the figures) : To Marysville, 7 ; 

 Railroad bridge, 2 ; Harrisburg, 4 ; Falmouth, 13 ; Collins' Ferry, 

 3 ; Marietta, 8 ; Chickies, 1 ; Columbia, 2 ; Washington Manor, 

 5 : Turkey Hill, 3 ; Safe Harbor, 2 ; mouth of the Pequea, 2 ; 

 Reed's Run, 3 ; mouth of the Tucquan, 2 ; Peach Bottom, 10; 

 Maryland Line, 3. 



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