BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 269 
A tramp in the North Carolina mountains. I. 
L. N. JOHNSON. 
One of the wildest regions east of the Rockies, and at the 
same time one of the most interesting to a botanist, is the 
mountain region of western North Carolina. The combina- 
tion of low latitude and great altitude produces, as might be 
expected, a varied flora. 
It was the good fortune of the writer to be one of a party 
who tramped through these mountains during the past sum- 
mer on a botanizing trip. Our route was two hundred miles 
long, extending through Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. 
We had laid it out in such a way as to cover both mountain 
peak and valley. 5 : 
One might fill pages with descriptions of the beauties of 
the scenery, but we must here confine ourselves to the flora, 
and that briefly. Although our trip was made just too late 
for the spring flowers and before those of summer were fully 
developed, we identified about five hundred and fitty species 
without any attempt at an exhaustive study. 
Of course the Composite headed the list in number of 
species, but to us the most striking feature w ; 
abundance of the Leguminose, both in 1 
Viduals. The soil is a red clay and seems to be peculiarly 
adapted to them. We found thirty-five species in blossom. 
Along the roadsides, especially in the valleys, were great 
quantities of the showy flowers of the Butterfly peas, Clitoria 
‘niana. Scarcely less abun- 
dant, but perha s more local, was the Schrankia uncinata. 
The Cherokees ‘call this the ‘ Bashful brier,” in allusion to 
iti Of course, the com- 
ver is not so 
abundant as in the north. The turf by the roadside in opal 
Places is made up by the stalks of a small leguminose plan 
With trifoliate leaves, somewhat resembling clover: It was 
net in blossom at the time we saw it. ae 
esmodiums are very abundant and of many Sead 
2 he of the most variable of the Legumimose that we “sa 
ane Stylosanthes elatior. Its yellow blossoms were 48 cM 
Where, but its stalks were sometimes erect, at aaah soe 
Vailing, while the leaves vary in form and size. Finns 
showy member of the family is the Thermopsis Carolinians. 
