62 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



Of Carduaceae (Compositae) were observed: 



Lacinaria scariosa squarrulosa. Silphium composite mi. 



Lacinaria graminifolia. Chrijsopsis graminifolia. 



Eupatorium album. Chrysopsis mariana. 



Eupatorium aromaticum. Aster undulatus. 



Parthenium integrifolium. Aster undulatus divers ij'olius. 



Solidago odora. Aster camptosorus. 



Solidago nemoralis. Aster patens. 



Sericocarpus bifoliatus. Aster sagittifolius. 



Sericocarpus asteroides. Aster laeiis. 



These are all characteristic of open situations on the sterile rocky 

 ridges. The asters were of stunted growth. On these summits two 

 conditions prevail, namely, rocky ridges without much soil support- 

 ing a xerophile or rupestrian flora, and depressions with a moist deeper 

 soil supporting a mesophile flora. 



With the disappearance of the long-leaf pine the deciduous-leaved 

 trees make their appearance, the same which also form largely the tree 

 covering of the lower mountain ridges, with their dry but more gener- 

 ous soil. The flora becomes more varied and types characteristic of 

 these rocky heights more numerous. On their cliff-bound brow Prunus 

 serotina neo-inontana makes its appearance. This variety of the wild 

 cherry is at once distinguished from the type by its low stature, scarcely 

 exceeding 25 or 30 feet; by the stem, which is somewhat crooked with 

 the bark rough; the wide-spreading slender branches, which are slightly 

 drooping; its broader, thick leaves, with a fine close pubescence 

 beneath, and its rigid horizontally spreading racemes, the berries 

 ripening in August. This tree was first observed in Alabama, in 1892, 

 on the summit of the Alpine Mountains, near the signal station (1,900 

 feet), on the same range near Renfroe, nearly 1,000 feet lower, and on 

 the summit of Chehawhaw Mountain, 2,400 feet. On the exposed cliffs 

 forming the escarpment of the last Lonicera flava was found, trailing 

 abundantly over the rocks, associated with Riibiis mllosus (R. cana- 

 densis authors) and Smilax rotundifolia. It is also found on the 

 lower ridges of the Alpine Mountains, near Renfroe, at an elevation 

 of about 1,000 feet, and confined to a few localities on the eastern 

 Alleghenian ranges in South Carolina and Georgia at similar altitudes. 

 Prunus injucunda, a low, straggling shrub lately described from 

 northwestern Georgia, and Vitis bicol&r, or Le Conte's grape, are not 

 infrequently met with on Chehawhaw Mountain, as well as on other 

 summits of the metamorphic region (Alpine Mountains, 1,900 feet) 

 and on the highest of the Coosa hills (Anniston, 1,000 feet). Le 

 Conte's grape is recognized at first sight by the long stems of a bright 

 reddish-brown (rufous) color stretching from rock to rock and over- 

 hanging the cliffs, the leaves sharply lobed, with deep narrow sinuses, 



