REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST I916 65 



in open places — low, sandy plains and the depressions in the sandy 

 plains — open marshes, swamps and shores. 



With an almost pure sandy soil, and in most portions of the sandy 

 plains with the water level often very close to the surface, the normal 

 changes in soil temperature are considerably modified, the soil 

 losing less heat at night by radiation because of the closeness of the 

 water level to the surface. This becomes an important factor in 

 the ecology of the vegetation, especially in early spring and late 

 fall, retarding spring vegetation, modifying the extremes of temper- 

 ature between day and night in siimmer and retarding the freezing 

 of the soil in late fall, conditions which in connection with the sandy 

 character of the soil favors the development of Austral species of 

 shrubs and herbs to even a greater extent than any modifying influ- 

 ence of the Great Lakes which may extend this far eastward on the 

 Ontario lowlands. 



This sandy region affords, therefore, a meeting-ground of southern 

 and northern species, with conditions favoring the southern species 

 in the open and the northern species on the more densely wooded areas. 



Austral elements of the vegetation. The broad, sandy beach 

 (figures 8 and 9) along the eastern shore of Oneida lake, together with 

 the sandy plains, depressions, open marshes, and sandy fields, in which 

 the water level is often close to the surface and which frequently lacks 

 well-defined surface drainage, together with a climate modified to 

 some extent by the prevailing winds from the Great Lakes, is favor- 

 able to the development of a large Austral element in the vegetation, 

 as indicated in the following list of species which are largely absent 

 from the Transition flora of the territory to the south, east and 

 northeast. Some botanists may explain the presence of certain 

 of these species as due to ecological conditions similar to those pre- 

 vailing in certain sandy regions of the northern coastal plain, rather 

 than to any marked Austral climatic conditions. 



The mere age of a geologic formation is of little consequence in 

 determining the character of plant growth. The important factor is 

 the lithologic character, mechanical and chemical, irrespective of 

 age. Also important is the texture or size of grain of the resulting 

 soils, determining the rate at which plant foods pass into solution, 

 and the structural features helping or hindering drainage. 



A sandy soil, whether a recent dune or one derived from the dis- 

 integration of Triassic or Paleozoic sandstones, is the home of 

 similar sand-loving plants where moisture conditions are the same, 

 however much the areas may differ in altitude within given limits, 

 or in latitude within certain limits and modifications. 



