252 THE PLANT LIFE OF MARYLAND 



note in connection with the changed soils. At several points along 

 the line of contact between one of these belts of shale and the 

 adjoining one of limestone on the west, the Conococheagne Eiver 

 has carved its valley, leaving on one side considerable bluffs of the 

 hard rock, facing the lower level of the shale land on the opposite 

 side of the stream. On such a bluff, near Broad Fording postoffice, 

 there is a large grove of Red Cedar covering several acres of 

 ground to the nearly complete exclusion of other plants. (Plate 

 XXVII, Fig. 1.) The river bed lies mainly in the shale area, but 

 follows the line of contact again at the crossing of the Xational Pike, 

 where it has produced a considerable cliff of limestone on the west 

 bank, with a lesser one of shale on the east. On both the Red Cedar 

 occurs singly or in small clumps, rather than as a grove like that 

 mentioned above. Along the banks of the stream between the two 

 places there were noted the following species: Lychnis githago, 

 Achillaea millefolium, Papaver rlioeas, Plantago rugelii, Oxalis 

 stricla, Echium vulgare, Erigeron annuus, Plantago lanceolata, 

 Lactuca scariola and Cynoglossum officinale, beside the grasses and 

 weeds more common in moist and deep soil. 



The conditions from the River to North Mountain are like those 

 about Hagerstown, where the land is under cultivation, and only a 

 few forms are able to meet the struggle with the turf forming 

 grasses along the roadside, or the competition of the cultivated 

 crops within the fields. Such plants as do make a successful 

 struggle, are the same kind as have been previously recorded and 

 will not here be repeated, there being no novelties to add to the 

 lists made out for the eastern side of the Valley. 



Williamsport. — The Conocochoague flows into the Potomac at 

 Williamsport, and along the latter there is a line of cliffs which are 

 covered by a series of plant forms, somewhat different from those 

 seen at other places, though closely related to the types seen along 

 the river near Harpers Ferry. The apparent difference may be due 

 in some measure to the difference of several weeks in the time of 

 examining the two localities, as well as to inherent differences. 



Among the plants which were seen along the high canal cliffs, or 

 on the ground between the canal and the river near the mouth of 

 the Conococheague, the following deserve mention: Sedum acre is 



