﻿204 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [march 



Width. The ridge of the series of hills extending from Mount 

 Josephine to the extremity of the point lies to the northeast of 

 the central axis of the point so that the descent to the lake 

 level on this side is quite precipitous. A large portion of 

 this northeast side is covered with talus blocks, some of which 

 are twenty-five to forty feet in their longest dimension {Jig-J^- 

 These blocks are overgrown with a forest of good-sized trees, 

 principally conifers, and the whole talus-block floor is covered 

 with such a growth of lichens and mosses as one seldom sees. 

 During the first visit to the spot in 1897, fields of the larger 

 Cladonias were found which looked at a distance much like the 

 usual illustrations of coral forests. As nearly as I can recall, 

 one such field covered more than an acre. It was almost com- 

 pletely covered with magnificent clusters of Cladonia rangiferina^ 

 C, alpestris^ C, sylvatica, C, iincialis^ and C. amaurocraea^ and 

 formed as beautiful and attractive a lichen community as one 

 can well imagine. Some idea of the luxuriance of the plants 

 may be had when it is stated that clusters were frequently seen 

 from two to three feet in diameter {fig, 4). The talus with 

 its great blocks, frequently thirty or forty feet long, and holes 

 between, often twenty or thirty feet deep, is not easy to traverse, 

 and it is not strange that in two days spent on the point in 1902 

 this wonderful Cladonia forest was not seen. At certain points 

 the perpendicular rock face still remains above the talus and is 

 in places from 100 to 200 feet high. The talus with its great 

 blocks extends from 400 to 700 feet from the ridge or the 

 perpendicular walls above to the water's edge below. 



To compensate for failure to find the field of Cladonias above 

 mentioned, a study of a somewhat similar one, though compact 

 instead of scattered, may be presented. This formation may 

 well receive the same name as the one just discussed. It occurs 

 about a mile north of Grand Marais on the south slope of the 

 Sawteeth Mountains. The formation is most luxuriant toward 

 the more shaded basal portion of the talus [fig. 5), which is 

 about sixty feet long and rises at an angle of approximately 40°. 



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C. uncialis, and Stereo- 



