28 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



VEGETATION OF THE EASTERN END OF ONEIDA LAKE 



SUPPLEMENTARY ACCOUNT 



Since the publication of the account of the Vegetation of the 

 Eastern End of Oneida Lake^ in 191 8, additional records have 

 accumulated as a result of further investigations carried on in this 

 region, from a study of specimens collected there and particularly 

 as a result of numerous visits during the past few seasons to the 

 extensive sand plains situated east of the lake. 



In the publication just mentioned the writer strongly emphasized 

 (p. 65-68) the austral elements of this vegetation, and the statements 

 made that "the mere age of a geologic formation is of little 

 consequence in determining the character of plant growth. The 

 important factor is the lithologic characters, mechanical and chem- 

 ical, irrespective of age. A sandy soil, whether a recent dune or 

 one derived from the disintegration of Triassaic or Paleozoic sand- 

 stones, 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." 



Dr Donald Culross Peattie- studying the Atlantic coastal plain 

 element in the flora of the Great lakes, assembles a mass of geo- 

 logical data tending to indicate that the coastal plain element of the 

 flora of the Great lakes and especially about Oneida lake, reached 

 this region by migration through the outlets of the glacial lakes, 

 and in the case of Oneida lake, through the Hudson-Mohawk valley 

 outlet of the early stages of Lake Iroquois. 



This view is eminently logical and doubtless approximates 

 very chjsely the true explanation. The writer believes that Doctor 

 Pcattie's explanation in no way invalidates the writer's statements :^ 

 " If we are to consider the various elements of our flora as having 

 migrated northward after the retreat of the ice sheet of the glacial 

 epoch, it is apparent that the first advance forward of any element 

 of the flora at any time will follow the line of least resistance, which 

 means favorable soil conditions, rather than unfavorable conditions, 

 where the climatic influences are otherwise identical." For this 

 reason it is almost axiomatic that the region of sandy plains and 

 its more or less und rained marshes and depressions, which soon 

 developed into acid or marly bogs, should be occupied more quickly 



1 New York State Mus. Bui. 197: 61-110. igi8. 



2 Rhodora 24 : 57-70 ; 80-88. April, May 1922. 



3 Jiouse. I.e. p. 66, 



