BIG SPRING PRAIRIE. a Ih 
usage. On account of the more abundant opportuni- 
ties for artificial or accidental seed dissemination along 
highways, these latter societies possess a greater vari- 
ety of plant life than fence-rows away from highways. 
The most successful roadside plants are those, which, 
when broken or cut off, have the power of sprouting 
up from the stub or root. These sprouts are generally 
quite prolific in seed production. It is also of advan- 
tage for these plants to possess a perrennial under- 
ground rootstock as many of them do. The inequali- 
ties in the level of a cross-section of the average coun- 
try pike or road furnish conditions for extremely varied 
sub-divisions in Roadside societies. 
The traveled roadbed is extremely xerophytic, the 
ditch or depression commonly occurring may support a 
hydrophytic society, while the remainder of cross- 
section may offer narrow beds of xero-mesophytic, and 
mesophytic, and hydro-mesophytic. Thus all forms of 
plant societies may exist in duplicate on each side of a 
road not over fifty to sixty feet in width. On account 
of the frequent rock outcrops, the roadways of the 
Ridges are more evenly xerophytic or xero-mesophytic 
than is commonly the rule; but in the drainage valleys 
and on the median plane the ordinary type roadway 
with its varied plant societies occur. ‘The most char- 
acteristic roadside shrubs of the Ridges are Rhus aro- 
matica, Rhus toxicodendron, and Celastrus scandens. 
Other quite common species are Rhus glabra, Rubus 
occidentalis, Rubus villosus, Rubus Canadensis, Cra- 
taegus, Prunus, Smilax, and Vitis. 
The most characteristic herbaceous plants are As- 
ter multiflorus Ait. (Dense-flowered Aster); Asclepias 
tuberosa L. (Butterfly-weed, Pleurisy root); and Pen- 
stemon hirsutus (l,.) Willd. (Hairy Beard-tongue). 
In this locality, the writer has found Aster multi- 
florus growing only on the Ridges, while at Chicago, 
Ill., it occurs on level sandy commons or even along 
