240 THE PLANT LI1?E OI" MARYLAND 



Juglans nigra 

 Rhus radicans 

 I itis labrusca 

 Apocynum cannabinum. 



THE MIDDLETOWN VALLEY. 



Between Catoctin Mountain and the Blue Ridge lies the Middle- 

 town Valley, in the shape of a broad triangle with its base at the 

 south. At the south it has but a slight elevation, gradually rising 

 toward the upper end where it is closed by the convergence of the 

 two ridges. The flat top of the \mited axes becomes the plateau 

 near Key Bock at Ben Mar, at the head of the Valley. 



It is under high cultivation, and needs but little mention here, 

 as the uncultivated plants consist for the most part of the common 

 weeds, or of plants similar to those of the adjacent parts of the 

 Midland Zone. Along the banks of Catoctin Creek, which drains 

 the valley, the plant growth is quite similar to that along the 

 Monocacy to the east of the Catoctin Mountain as shown by the 

 following list: 



Ulm/us fulni 

 Eobinia pseudacacia 

 Nyssa hiflora 

 Smilax ro tun difo I ia 

 Diantliera americana 

 Ulmus americana 

 Acer negundo 

 Fraxinus americana 

 Smilax herbacea 

 Urticasirum divaricatu m. 



The Box Elder is restricted to the ground along the floodplains 

 of the streams, and often forms a very considerable proportion of 

 the tree growth along the canal and river banks, from tidewater 

 at Georgetown to Hancock and extends up the side valleys of the 

 tributaries from the Potomac, as in this, case, along the Monocacy 

 and the Catoctin valleys. In the low ground, such as meadow 



