Dee ee, ae 
VOLUME XXXVI NUMBER 4 
DOLANICAL. (Ave tie 
OCTOBER, 1903 
AN ECOLOGIC STUDY OF THE FLORA OF MOUN- 
TAINOUS NORTH CAROLINA. 
Joun W. HARSHBERGER. 
TOPOGRAPHY. 
THE mountain region of North Carolina is not a unit, domi- 
nated by a single range or group of mountains, but is a complex 
containing several features of nearly equal topographic impor- 
tance. These are (1) the Blue Ridge, (2) the eastern Monad- 
nocks and Piedmont valleys, (3) the Unaka Range, (4) the 
central mountain groups and intermontane valleys. 
The Blue Ridge.— The Blue Ridge may be regarded as form- 
ing the extreme eastern range of the Appalachian Mountains, 
carrying the main divide between the Atlantic and Gulf drainage. 
It reaches its greatest height in Grandfather Mountain, with an 
altitude of 5,964t (1,817™). Three other peaks reach above 
5,000" (1,525™), and a dozen or more, most of them in North 
Carolina, are above 4,000" (1,220™). The most striking topo- 
graphic feature of the Blue Ridge is the great difference in slopes 
On its opposite sides, for it is steep on the eastern and gradual 
on the western slopes. The eastward-flowing streams have cut 
back into the mountain belt, and, having the advantage of a 
more direct course to the sea, have encroached upon the terri- 
tory of the westward-flowing streams, and have robbed them of 
portions of their drainage basins. 
The eastern Monadnocks and Piedmont Valleys —The eastern 
Monadnocks form several groups of mountains along the extreme 
* HAYEs, C. WILLIs, The Southern Appalachians. National Geographic Maga- 
zine 1 3319, 
241 
