UNIVERSITY 



CULTIVATED PLANTS m^T^f Q yj| V frrT T iTTTT 79 



Of these the first is the most prominent, frequenting springy, rocky 

 banks and dripping ledges, and the others are all more or less frequent 

 in similar localities throughout the mountain region. Sarracenia cates- 

 baei and Isoetes engelwianni valida are paludial plants so far only known 

 in the State from the banks of Little River near De Soto Falls. There 

 occurs also Dantlionia glabra, a most rare plant, lately described, from 

 upper Georgia (Nash), with Danthonia compressa and Deschampsia 

 flexuosa, so far not yet reported from any other locality in the State, 

 while Carex virescens, Tiarella cordifolia, Asdepias quadrifolia, and 

 Asarwn macranthum frequent the rocky dells and more or less open 

 copses. The tiny Arenaria brevifolia, known from a few localities in 

 upper Georgia and the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee, roots in 

 crevices of rocks among the dark-green cushions of mosses (Grimmia, 

 Hedwigia), with the three-leaf stonecrop (Sedum ternatum) and the 

 round-leaf talinum (Talinum teretifolium}, a fleshy perennial with 

 rose-purple flowers adorning exposed rocks in the mountains north- 

 ward to Pennsylvania. On the exposed rocks close to the edge and 

 above the falls of Little River dense tufts of filiform leaves produced 

 by a many-branched rootstock deeply sunk in the crevices attract the 

 attention. Specimens of this plant in flower obtained in September 

 proved to be CJumdrophora virgata (Bigelovia Nutt). The identity of 

 our plant with Nuttall's specimens is, however, not free from doubt. 

 In the type collected by Nuttall in lower New Jersey and preserved in 

 the Herbarium of the Academy of Sciences at Philadelphia the radical 

 leaves, which furnish the decisive character, are wanting; furthermore, 

 the similarity to Eitihamia graminifolia ascribed by Nuttall to his type 

 is not recognized in our plant. The locality quoted by Nuttall is also 

 doubtful, his plant having never been found afterwards, although the 

 ground has been closely investigated by later botanists. 



Under the umbrageous cover of the high forest on the upper flanks of 

 the mountain, in the deep soil, rich in humus, tall umbelliferous herbs 

 are conspicuous, among which are Ligusticum canadense, frequent 

 throughout the mountains northward to Pennsylvania, Thaspinm pin- 

 natifidum, and Thaspium karbinode, which extends north to the Ohio 

 Valley. Together with these occur Oxalis grandis, Polygonatum com- 

 mutatum, widely distributed through the Alleghenian area, Trillium 

 stylosum of the southern Appalachian ranges, and Cypripedium acaule, 

 found in more open boggy places. 



Cultural plant associations. Scarcely 20 per cent of the area of the 

 table-lands is reduced to a state of cultivation; the rest consists of 

 more or less devastated woodlands and of high forests, which, how- 

 ever, near the settlements and highways of commerce are largely 

 stripped of merchantable timber and are suffering from the inroads of 

 fire and cattle. 



Scarcely more than a quarter of a century ago, before these table- 



