Vegetation of Stone Mountain 93 
that they grow in but a few inches of sand collected in depressions of 
the granite rock. 
“Lagerstroemia Indica L.—The species is now well established about 
Stone Mountain * * *.” 
“July, 1894. Cuscuta arvensis—Grows about the base of Stone 
Mountain, Georgia, in mats on Gymnolomia Porteri where this species 
forms dense patches.” 
Dr. Roland M. Harper, in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical 
Club, August, 1901, reported plants found on or near Stone Mountain 
as follows: 
Antennaria calophylla Green. Juncus Georgianus Coville Small. 
Lomicera flava sims. Scirpus sylvaticus L. 
Opuntia vulgaris mill. Asplenium angustifolium.” 
Polygala Curtissii Gray. 
At present it is hardly possible to view the plant distribution of 
this unique mountain without feeling the spirit of these botanical notes. 
One imagines he sees the same ‘“‘dense patches” of Gymnolomia porteri, 
and the “Amorpha virgata” on the little shelves of accumulated sand; 
and the same “Nyssa biflora” in its extremely strange anchorage on 
the summit, growing in company with ancient and weater-beaten speci- 
mens of Juniperus virginiana, and the same assemblage of ‘“Rudbeckia 
porteri” grouped with their more rugged associates “Quercus Georgiana” 
situated high up toward the top of the mountain; and no doubt some 
of the woody individuals standing here today were standing here a 
century ago, and to be sure the herbaceous species beheld now, have 
beauties and habits similar to the beauties and habits of their ancestors 
in generations past when botanists and nature adorers beheld them and 
loved them and praised them. 
PHYSICAL FEATURES AND TREE DISTRIBUTION. 
The geological notes cited above indicate the chemical constituents 
and the physical durability of this granite dome of nature. It stands 
as a physiographic marvel, a figure unique among the geological curi- 
osities of the world. 
It may be interesting to note, that today plant life is one of the 
most powerful natural forces operating against the eternal existence 
of this mountain. 
The North Side—Here almost the entire area stands like a stone 
wall perpendicular to the adjacent plains at the base, but this granite 
face bends gradually inward towards the crest, giving an oval outline 
to the mountain as viewed from the north. (Fig. 1.) The surface 
is unbroken and void of phanerogamic vegetation. The waters of all 
the regional rain storms that have beaten upon this mighty rock through 
untold ages have rushed unhalted down its sides, and yet the most 
marked physical features on the extreme north are numerous clean 
streaks, some of which are several feet in width, extending from sum- 
mit to base. On close examination these streaks are found to be ex- 
tremely shallow and perfectly beveled furrows in which no lichens are 
