NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



337 



Reference : 



Beckwith, Florence, and Macauley, 

 Mary E. Plants of Monroe County, 

 New York. Proc. Rochester Acad. 

 Sci. } 3:1896. Extracted and repaged 

 pp. 1-150. Subsequent supple- 

 ments by Baxter, etc. 



See also State Botanists' Report, 1918. 



12. Montezuma Marshes. (A4.) Cat- 

 tail marsh. Several thousand acres of 

 low marsh land lying along the west side 

 of Cayuga Lake Outlet, immediately 

 northwest of the village of Cayuga, a 

 unique and widely known region of cat- 

 tail marsh merging on slightly higher 

 land into marsh meadow and swamp 

 forest. Marl, muck and peat deposits 

 indicating typical hydrarch sequence of 

 vegetation. Small marsh mammals 

 (e.g., muskrat), marsh birds, feeding 

 ground for migrating ducks. Elevation 

 375 ft. 



Reached by N. Y. Central (Auburn 

 Branch) Syracuse to Cayuga, 37 mi., 

 by Lehigh Valley, Ithaca to Cayuga 40 

 mi., and by R. S. & E. Electric to Monte- 

 zuma. Prof. E. H. Eaton, Hobart Col- 

 lege, Geneva, N. Y. 



13. The Hempstead Plains. (A4.) A 

 flat treeless area of about 50 sq. mi. 

 in the central part of Nassau Co., rapidly 

 encroached upon by truck farming, 

 suburban extension, etc., so that by 

 1907 only 10 sq. mi. remained in a natural 

 state. From 1907 to 1918 further en- 

 croachments had reduced the area by 

 at least one-tenth. (Harper). Several 

 hundred acres should still be available 

 for reservation. Typical prairie similar 

 in aspect to parts of the Great Plains. 

 Some portions resembling pine heath 

 with pitch pine, gray birch, black jack 

 oak, black huckleberry, sweet fern and 

 scrub oak. Characteristic prairie spe- 

 cies are broom beard grass, forked beard 

 grass, Indian grass, cat-gut (Cracca 

 Virginiana), savory-leaved aster, wild 

 indigo, star grass, etc. The area is 

 traversed by streams with adjacent wet 

 lands with marsh grass (Dulichium 

 arundinacewri) , cinnamon fern, sensitive 



fern, royal fern, marsh shield fern, white 

 beaked rush, etc. 



Elevation 40 to 60 ft. 



Go by Long Island R. R. to Garden 

 City 20 mi. from Pennsylvania Station, 

 New York City. Dr. R. M. Harper, 

 College Point, N. Y. 



References : 



Harper, R. M. Vegetation of the 

 Hempstead Plains, Mem. Torr. Bot. 

 Club, 17:262-286, 1918; also Bull. 

 Amer. Geogr. Soc., 43:351-360, 1911. 



14- Albany-Schenectady Sand Plains. 

 (A4.) Pine heath vegetation. Selected 

 areas of several hundred acres, available 

 for preservation. Originally white pine 

 forest. Present, vegetation a secondary 

 succession of pitch pine, gray birch, 

 heath shrubs, sweet fern, scrub oak, 

 broom grass, etc. Typical sand barren 

 or pine heath associations. Original 

 animal biota radically modified and 

 depleted. Area rapidly encroached 

 upon by cultivation and suburban ex- 

 tension. Elevation 250 to 300 ft. 



Reached by New York Central from 

 Albany to Karner, 8 mi. or by Interurban 

 electric line. Homer D. House, State 

 Botanist, Albany, N. Y. 



References : 



Bray, W. L. Development of the 

 Vegetation of New York State. 

 Bull. N. Y. State College of Forestry, 

 Tech. Pub., No. 3, 1915. 



15. Plattsburg Sand Plain. (A4.) Sim- 

 ilar in topography, structure and 

 vegetation to the preceding. Original 

 plant cover white pine forest. Much 

 modified and subject to complete elimi- 

 nation as a natural biotic area by exten- 

 sion of cultivation and military usage, 

 (w) two or 3 mi. from Plattsburg. Ele- 

 vation 250 ft. 



Reference: 

 Bray, Wm. L. Op. cit. 



16. Sodus Bay Yellow Lotus Colony. 

 (A4.) Lake Ontario. A well preserved 



