106 
ness fifty years ago by Thomas Hughes, a project foredoomed to 
failure if for nothing else than the sterile character of the sur- 
rounding fields. The Iénglish church and a few houses of Eng- 
lish architecture still remain. Just below the church is the stream 
which I have mentioned, its banks of crumbled sandstone afford- 
ing the most remarkable display of plants that it has been my 
fortune to see: Magnolia macrophylla, Clethra acuminata, Rho- 
dodendron, the rare native barberry (Berberis canadensis), Silene 
rotundifolia, box-huckleberry (Gaylussacia brachycera), Liatris, 
clsplenium montanum, the white flowers of Trautvetteria and 
Boykinia, and in the clear water itself the golden spikes of 
Orontium. In this region of the Cumberlands the climbing fern 
(Lygodium palinatum) is abundant and seems to be equally at 
home along stream openings, on shaded sandstone ledges, and in 
pathways through rhododendrons. 
Proceeding westward I made my headquarters at Nashville 
(where I had collected plants in the summers of 1922 and LO50 ¥, 
and under the guidance of Dr. Shaver, of Peabody College, I was 
enabled to visit many places of interest. This area is well-known 
botanically for the extensive cedar glades which begin about ten 
miles east of the city. In the spring the flat limestones of the 
glades form natural rock-gardens, with an extraordinary and 
brillant assemblage of flowering plants. ‘ The somber tint of 
the cedar delineates a cedar barren from its surroundings at a 
distance, and serves within its environs to bring out with dazzling 
vividness the beautiful green of the glade grass, aglow with rose- 
— 
colored petalostemons, sky-blue lobelias, golden Leavenworthias, 
schoenoliriums and shrubby hypericums ... a natural conserva- 
tory that could fearlessly challenge any flower garden in the com- 
” 
rey 
bined effect of gayety and luxuriance. 
The glades become parched during hot weather and lose their 
colorful plants, but the river gorges in the hills west of Nashville 
remain productive of interesting species throughout the summer. 
A visit to western Alabama, where a few days were spent with 
Dr. R. M. Harper, of the University of Alabama, allowed a 
glimpse of the bluffs and ravines along the Warrior River, with 
such curiosities as Neviusia (a Rosaceous shrub), Croton ala- 
' Gattinger, Ilora of Tennessee, p. 22 (1901), 
