MARYLAND WEATHER SERVICE G'J 



found to grow within the borders of the state when its flora shall have 

 been thoroughly exploited, will probably be between 3800 and 1900. 

 The lack of a reasonably complete Flora of Maryland renders it 

 impossible to work out in detail the features of the distribution of 

 plants within the state and the relationships of the flora to that of 

 other regions. The matter in hand is, however, at least sufficient to 

 permit, a review of some of the main floristic features. 



The great bulk of the flora is of wide distribution throughout the 

 Northeastern United States, or indeed throughout the whole of east- 

 ern North America. The central counties in particular are rich in 

 species which range from Ontario or the New England States to 

 "Michigan or Minnesota, and south to Georgia and Alabama. In 

 addition to this groundwork of plants of wide distribution, the coastal 

 section of the state is found to he rich in species the principal range 

 of which is to the south, with their northern limit either in Maryland 

 or in the coastal section of New Jersey or Long Island. In the 

 higher mountains, on the other band, there is a considerable element 

 the chief range of which is to the north or throughout the Alleghany 

 Mountains. The salt and brackish habitats about the Chesapeake 

 Hay and the Ocean front afford congenial conditions for the growth 

 of salt-loving, or halophytic, plants, which are a small but interesting 

 element of the flora. Intermingled with the native plants throughout 

 the state is a large number of introduced foreign or western plants, 

 chiefly weeds, which form an element of the flora which is constantlv 

 being augmented. 



The occurrence of the southern floral element in the coastal portion 

 of Maryland, and of the northern element in the higher mountains 

 suggests the subdivision of the state into three Zones in accordance 

 therewith. The fact that many of the southern species are found 

 throughout the Coastal Plain in Maryland suggests the "Fall-Line" 

 as the most natural boundary of the Coastal Zone. That portion of 

 the state lying between the "Fall-Line" and the higher mountains will 

 here he designated as the Midland Zone. The contour line of 1500 

 feet elevation, running along the Eastern slopes of Wills, and Great 

 Backbone Mountains forms the approximate eastern limit of the 

 region characterized by the northern element, which will be desig- 

 nated as the Mountain Zone. These zones apparently correspond 



