140 Russell nu Cryptogamoiis Plants. 



Art. 111. Some Cryptogamous Plants gathered in the vi- 

 cinity of * Kearsarge Mowitain^ New Hampshire : with 

 observations. By John Lewks Russell, A. AS. Correspond- 

 ing member of the Mass. Hort. Soc. &:c. &c. 



Although the minuter forms of vegetation have httle to 

 recommend them to general notice, so few of them entering 

 into the utilitarian notions of hfe, yet to the curious inqui- 

 rer, they present constant subjects for research and reflec- 

 tion. In no mean degree, however, do the mosses and hch- 

 ens contribute to the harmonious keeping and picturesque 

 elegance of noithern scenery : and many a forest tree, dark 

 rock and beetling cliff would present not half their attrac- 

 tions were they divested of those numerous, grotesque and 

 peculiar vegetable parasites Avhich, in tlieir turn, minister 

 to some great end in the economy of nature. The old, grey 

 flaunting usnea, as it hangs from the broad-spreading limbs 

 of some noble pine, or droops in melancholy, sombre aspect 

 from trees uptorn by the wind and half decayed ; the spark- 

 ling, emerald-green mosses, beneath the spray of the cata- 

 ract, with feathery ferns und(!r which the timid bird hides 

 its nest, — are not unnoticed in the poet's song ; while the 

 humbler things of creation, to the truly observant, furnish 

 the most interesting sources of refined delight. 



As we ascend mountain elevations,the cryptogamic vege- 

 tation grows more abundant as the phenogamous forms dis- 

 appear. Subsisting on the surfaces of bare rocks, several 

 species of lichens serve to convert, by their growth and de- 

 cay the particles of stone, be they calcareous or silicious, 

 into a scanty soil, adapted for a succession of other species. 

 Beds of sphagna act as sponges, absorbing every floating 

 vapor, or catching the drops of moisture as they roll above 

 them in fleecy clouds; while far down the mountain-side, 

 and miles away from its source, some noble stream is con- 

 verted into the servant of man. who, little thinking that to 

 such an humble ministry he is indebted, asks in his pre- 

 sumptuous ignorance of the uses of such trifles on which 



• For some previous remarks, see Volume VI, p. 333, of this Maga- 

 zine, in which article for Milk read Mink, and for Warren read Warner. 

 And on p. 335, for Grophinu, read Gyrophora, and for Warren read 

 Warner. 



