192 
their gradual elimination. Now, after ten years, this task is practi- 
cally accomplished. Some of the plant habitats have not yet been 
completed; for example, the limestone ledge was installed only in 
the spring of 1942, and the area occupied by red maples will be 
partially excavated to provide swamp conditions. 
As one enters the gateway opposite the lilacs (Fig. 2), the bank 
of serpentine rock will be seen on the left. This rock was ob- 
Miss Hilda 
Loines, of the Botanic Garden Governing Committee. In addition 
—, 
tained from Staten Island through the kindness o 
to the plants mentioned (p. 187) as specially characteristic on ser- 
pentine, this area includes the bluebell (Campanula rotundifolia), 
which likewise grows abundantly on the diabase of the Palisades of 
the Hudson River; sundrops (Ocnothera fruticosa) ; Wlue-eyed 
grass (Sisyrinchium mucronatun, lig. 6d) ; Phalictruim revolutum ; 
Senecio obovatus; Galiuin boreale; and the shooting-star (Dode- 
catheon Meadia, Fig. 6¢). The last-named species extends north- 
ward to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and so, with a distribu- 
tion somewhat like that of Silene virginica (Vig. 6a), barely 
reaches our area; it grows chiefly on limestone and is variable in 
color, being represented in large areas of the South by pure white 
flowers which do not differ in any other way from the lavender-to- 
pink forms usually seen. 
Continuing along the bank beyond the serpentine area, one sees 
a group of ericaceous plants, including a good stand of mountain 
laurel (Kalimia latifolia) which represents the oldest existing plan- 
tation in the area, having been set out about 1912. Associated with 
a" 
it is the sheep laurel (Aalinia angustifolia), which, when grown 
under suitable conditions in a sandy soil without overcrowding, is 
an ornamental shrub with a wealth of bright pink flowers. At the 
base of the mountain-laurel bank will be found trailing arbutus 
(Epigaea repens, Fig. 7a), one of the earliest of our spring flowers. 
Some of the clumps have been growing robustly for five years or 
more, but they are greatly subject to winter damage. Associated 
with the mountain-laurel also are our native species of azalea 
(Rhododendron nudiflorum and Rk. rosea) and the dwarf blue- 
berries (Vaccinium pennsylvanicum and 1’, canadense ). 
On the right side of the grass path, opposite the serpentine, is an 
area labeled “plains” on the map, which represents a natural prairie 
