430 BICKNELL: FERNS AND 
And with few exceptions their characteristic plants are also plants 
of the Hempstead Plains.* 
Among the more interesting are the following: 
Schizachyrium scoparium ence week propinquum 
Panicum depauperatum majus 
meridionale tHudsonia ericoides 
Aristida purpurascens Lechea maritima 
Agrostis antecedens Viola pedata 
Carex pennsylvanica tEpigaea repens 
“tonsa tArctostaphylos Uva-urst 
Juncus Greenet Asclepias amplexicaulis 
Salix tristis Agalints acuta 
Aletris farinosa +Houstonia coerulea 
Sisyrinchium. arenicola Nabalus serpentarius 
Baptisia tinctoria Chrysopsis falcata 
Cracca virginiana Solidago memoralis 
Lespedeza Bicknellii Euthamia tenuitfolia 
Linum intercursum Sericocarpus lintfolius 
Polygala polygama Tonactis linartifolius 
Sarothra gentianoides | Aster concolor 
Helianthemum dumosum “* dumosus 
Only four of these plants, those marked with a dagger, appear 
to be wanting on the Hempstead Plains, although the arbutus 
and the bearberry occur at outlying points. The Houstonia, an 
abundant Nantucket plant, is apparently unknown on Long 
Island and the Hudsonia is a rare plant there. 
* * * * * 
Over one half of Nantucket’s native plants may fairly be 
accounted as prevailingly more southern in their general distri- 
bution. More than one hundred of these reach their northern or 
eastern limits in Massachusetts, mainly in the Cape Cod region 
and in the southeastern quarter of the state, and a considerable 
number of others that pass beyond Massachusetts are reported 
from no further than southwestern Maine or are of only casual 
occurrence at more northern or eastern points. Altogether about 
* For a very full discussion of the Hempstead Plains and their vegatation, see 
Harper, The Vegetation of the s. Hempetend Plains. - Mem. Torrey Club 17: 262- 
286. pl. 7. June, 1918. 


