278 THE PLANT LIFE OE MARYLAND 



of Swamp forest four miles north-east of Thayerville, and small 

 tracts of it have been examined by the writer at Thayerville, Cranes- 

 ville and near Finzel. A large number of boreal species of her- 

 baceous plants which find their southern limit in Maryland or Vir- 

 ginia occur only in or about the Swamps and the Bogs which now 

 occupy some of the cleared Swamp areas. 



The only cultural habitats of ecological interest are the cleared 

 bottom lands, or Meadows, formerly occupied by "Glade" forest, 

 which now, if uncultivated for several years, hear a rich and varied 

 stand of sun-loving palustrine plants. 



Slopes. 



The forest typical of Slopes lias been examined at Swanton, Kelso 

 Gap and Conway Hill on Great Backbone Mountain; Avest of Frost- 

 burg and west of Midlothian on Big Savage Mountain ; and at Boman 

 Nose Mountain, five miles north of Oakland. 



Lumbermen state that the White Oak was the predominant tree of 

 the virgin forest of the Slopes, where it reached a maximum height 

 of 125 to 150 feet, giving clean trunks 100 feet long. This height 

 was undoubtedly attained by many id' the subordinate trees, although 

 there are now no second growth stands in which the height of the 

 forest canopy exceeds 75 feet. The White Oak is still the commonest 

 tree, occurring in varying percentages, hut nowhere forming as much 

 as half the stand. The commonest subordinate species, which are 

 about equally abundant, are the Linden, the Cucumber Tree, the 

 Sugar Maple, the Sweet Birch, the Red Oak, and the Shaghaik 

 Hickory. The abundance of these m\ species is one of the principal 

 characteristics of the forests of the Slopes, for no one of them is so 

 common in any other habitat in the state. Much less frequent than 

 the preceding are the Butternut, the Scarlet Oak, the Chestnut < >ak, 

 the Chestnut, the Wild Black Cherry and the Bignut Hickory. The 

 Butternut is not so common here as in similar forests in the Upper 

 Midland, and the Chestnut Oak and Chestnut are much more abun- 

 dant on the ridges. The absence of the Tulip Tree (Liriodendron 

 tulipifera), which is rare in the Mountain Zone, is particularly 

 notable, as it is found abundantly in just such habitats in the Mid- 



