72 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



wider and the valleys are flanked b\ ridges of a gentler slope and are 

 covered with deeper and richer soil. In these secluded valle3 T s of the 

 table-land, particularly where they begin to slope almost impercep- 

 tibly toward their southern and southwestern borders, the arboreal 

 growth is of great luxuriance and variety. Besides many of the trees 

 of the uplands, the following are found: 



Quercus michauxii (cow oak) . Magnolia umbrella (umbrella tree) . 



Fagus americana (beech) . Magnolia acuminata (common cucumber 



Ulmus americana (elm) . tree) . 



Juglans cinerea (butternut) (rare) . Magnolia macrophylla (large-leaf mag- 



TUia americana (basswood). nolia. 



Tilia heterophylla (basswood) . 



These deciduous-leaved magnolias in these sheltered valleys arrive 

 at their best development, the last having been observed with a trunk 

 fully 20 inches in diameter. In such a valley on the northern border 

 of Winston County, near a branch of the east fork of the Sipsey River, 

 the yellow-flowered magnolia (Magnolia acuminata cordata), first 

 described as a distinct species J by Michaux the elder, was discovered 

 by the writer in 1882. Since the original discovery of this rare and 

 beautiful tree by this great investigator of the trees of eastern North 

 America, on the banks of the upper waters of the Savannah River, the 

 range of its distribution had remained obscure. It can now be said, 

 however, to extend from upper South Carolina and the upper moun- 

 tain region of Georgia to northwestern Alabama. Here this tree 

 has been observed as large as a full-grown common cucumber tree, 

 of which species Professor Sargent regards it as a variety. When 

 unfolding under full exposure to the sun, the flowers are from a dingy 

 canary to a golden yellow color, but are of a greenish tint when 

 opening under the shade of the dense foliage. In the shape and 

 size of the mature leaves the yellow-flowered variety can scarcely be 

 distinguished from the typical form; it is only in the foliage of the 

 young vigorous shoots that the heart-shaped form of the leaves is 

 observed. 



Entering near the same valley the cliff-bound channel of the Sipsey 

 fork, one finds to his surprise the rocky defile shaded by groves of 

 stately hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). This inhabitant of the coniferous 

 forests of northern regions extends southward along the highest sum- 

 mits of the Appalachian ranges to Georgia and northwestern Ala- 

 bama, where it follows this mountain torrent for a distance of about 10 

 miles, nearly to the falls of Clear Creek, in Winston County, there 

 reaching its southern limit. In this valley the hemlock is accompanied 

 by the sweet or cherry birch, Betula lenta, at home in the same 

 northern life zone. 



Xerophile and mesophile herbaceous plant associations. Belonging to 



1 M. cordata Michaux, Flora, Vol. 1, p. 328 (1803). 



