HARPER: VEGETATION OF THE HEMPSTEAD PLAINS 269 
or succulents. The prevailing color of the herbage in summer is 
grayish green, on account of the prevalence of glaucous and 
canescent leaves,* but the scene is brightened by flowers of various 
colors, changing from month to month as in many other grass- 
lands and the southeastern pine-barrens. In the fall, the color 
gradually changes to light brown, with a strong shading of gray 
from the plumose spikelets of the prevailing grass (which grows 
on nearly every square foot of upland, and makes up something 
like three fourths of the total herbaceous vegetation). 
| 
Fic. Typical prairie scene about 114 miles northeast of Hicksville, looking 
south. Andropogon and Baptisia in foreground, farm-house and a few shade-trees 
in middle distance, and edge of forest barely visible on the horizon. 2:05 p.m., 
Oct. 20, 1907 
On account of the small size of this prairie one could stand 
at any point on the upland and see the surrounding forests in 
every direction if buildings and shade-trees did not interfere; 
but in the western part one can step down into one of the shallow 
valleys and get an absolutely treeless horizon in some directions, 
indistinguishable in a photograph from some places far out on 
the Great Plains.T 
* In this connection see Wiegand, Bot. Gaz. 49: 430- IO. 
t See PLATE 7, and compare this with a scene in эры! sen published in 
Bull. Am. Geog. Soc. 40: 338. June, 1908. 
