78 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



is the most prominent. In the beginning of summer, when covered 

 with the profuse clusters of its purple or lilac flowers, this shrub, 

 from 6 to 10 feet in height, massed in dense thickets along the banks 

 of Little River, forms one of the most attractive sights. The home of 

 this shrub is ascribed to the highest crests of the southern chains of 

 the mountains from western Virginia to Roan Mountain, on the border 

 of North Carolina and Tennessee, at an altitude of (5,000 feet. It has, 

 however, been found, by Mr. Small, at a much lower elevation on 

 Table Mountain. At its extreme southern limit in Alabama it is asso- 

 ciated with the Azalea arbarescens and Kalnim l<ifif<>l!<i. Of other 

 shrubs Viburnum cassinoides, extending to the Canadian zone, is abund- 

 ant on the banks of this stream. Viburnum dentatum, Rub UN nWr///V, 

 and Celastrus scandens, of the same range of distribution, arc frequent 

 among the shrubs of the more exposed rocky heights. With these 

 Alleghenian shrubs occur a host of other species, which are at home 

 on the southern extremity of the lower ranges within the Carolinian 

 area, and are more or less frequent throughout our mountain region. 

 For example: 



Butneria (Calycanthus) fertilis. Hydrangea arborescens cordala. 



Ilex monticola. Philadelphus hirsutus. 



Vacdnium melanocarpum. Diervilla rivularis. 

 Vaccinium pallidum. 



The Vaccinium pallidum is reported as scarce on some of the highest 

 summits of North Carolina (Buckley). Crataegus biltmoreana^ C. 

 austromontana, and C. sargenti are new discoveries made on the decliv- 

 ities of the mountain by Mr. Beadle of the Biltmore Herbarium in 

 1899, which have also become known from western North Carolina, 

 eastern Tennessee, and northern Georgia. The prostrate stems of the 

 northern Rubus hispidus cover open, miry places. 



The large lichen, Umbilicaria pustulata papidosa, which covers the 

 naked cliffs, forms an association strongly expressive of the Alleghen- 

 ian character of the flora of this locality. In the soil, rich in humus, 

 shaded by the rocks, and on the shaded ledges lining the banks of 

 Little River, mesophile ferns are also abundant. Asplenium bmd/< //,\ 

 of very local distribution in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee 

 and Kentucky, occurs here, together with the more frequent 



Asplenium parwtum. Asplenium montanum. 



Asplenium trichomanex. Asplenium pinnatifidum. 



Axplenium filix-foemmd. Dryopteris marginalia. 

 Dlcksonia punctilobula. 



The last three are xerophile species, occurring on somewhat exposed 

 rocks. Other herbaceous southern Appalachian types here found are: 



Galax aphylla. Viola blanda. 



TIilidrum davatum. Viola rostrata. 



Viola muUicaulis, Eatonia penmylvanica. 



