52 Proceedings of the Ohio State Academy of Science. 



S 



The Societies of the Meadow. 



Certain small areas contain an almost pure S]:>]iagnum- 

 Oxycoccus society (indicated on Fig. 13 by i) and forming a 

 banked up narrow border surrounding the large masses of 

 thicket. All other areas are dominated by one or two other 

 plants, in most cases a sedge, taller and more conspicuous than 

 the cranberry or sphagnum. These societies altho quite clearly 

 differentiated the one from the other, at their centers where the 

 dominance prevails, blend at their margins so that the secondary 

 species of all the Sedge-Oxycoccus-Sphagnum societies are the 

 same and will be listed together. The societies are : 



I. Oxycoccus-Sphagnum : — A pure society of the two domi- 

 nant species, Oxycoccus macrocarpus and Sphagnum cymbifol- 

 ium is rather rare, and covers but a small area of the entire 

 bog-meadow. In the broad, open stretch of meadow towards 

 the northern border there are areas from ten to fifteen feet 

 square which have but a scanty intermixture of other plants. 

 The water level is not high and the Oxycoccus is at its optimum. 

 The plants are not unusually large but they flower and fruit 

 freely. The borders of thickets have an almost pure growth 

 of this society, showing the characteristic banking. In the shade 

 of the shrubs the Oxycoccus quite hides the Sphagnum thri;. its 

 luxuriant growth but it is uniformly sterile. Towards the west- 

 ern end of this open meadow, Sphagnum cymb'ifolium is being 

 largely replaced by the small, closely set, reddish fronds of 

 Sphagnum acuti folium versicolor. The plant is conspicuous in 

 the late summer and fall when the fronds are most highly col- 

 ored. 



The Oxycoccus-Sphagnum society is most strikingly a 

 seasonal one. During the spring months of April, May and early 

 June, the sedges have not attained their full development and are 

 consequently not as prominent as later. This is well illustrated 

 by Eriophorum virginicum. The Eriophorum is very conspicuous 

 in the late summer and fall. 



