Minnesota Plant Life. 



479 



Certain conditions of the forest floor arise, owing to the 

 decay of the falHng- leaves, that make such a region favor- 

 able for the development of humus plants, and a num- 

 ber of them are likely to be found there, as, for example, 

 the coralroots, Indian-pipes and wintergreens. Many shade 

 plants hide in the dense woods and one finds, in their 

 depths, the trilliums, the jacks-in-the-pulpit, the broad-leafed 

 asters and broad-leafed goldenrods, and upon moister ground, 

 the touch-me-nots, the anemones and the clintonias. In such 



woods a number of vines 

 have their growth, such as 

 the wild grape and the 

 climbing bittersweet, or, of 

 slenderer habit, the hop and 

 the clematis. A character- 

 istic of hardwood forest is 

 the remarkable luxuriance 

 with which spring flowers of 

 various sorts are produced. 

 Before the leaves have come 

 out upon the trees the forest 

 floor is covered with flower- 

 ing herbs. The autumn 

 flowers of the forest are not 

 so conspicuous as in the 

 prairie regions, perhaps be- 

 cause there is not so much 

 possibility of attracting the 

 attention of insects at a dis- 

 tance, owing to the prox- 

 imity of tree trunks and to the shadows thrown by the leaf 

 crowns. In the spring, before the leaves have appeared, such 

 conditions are minimized and the development of a conspicuous 

 flower might be of more advantage to the plant. 



General considerations. It must not be supposed that every 

 plant formation in nature is purely hydrophytic, purely xero- 

 phytic, or purely mesophytic. On the contrary, mixed forma- 

 tions are exceedingly common. A little change in the topo- 

 graphical features of a region, a difference in illumination or in 



Fig. 238. — Neglected corner in the Minneapolis 

 manufacturing district. Weeds and shrub- 

 bery-. After photograph by Williams. 



