HARPER: VEGETATION OF THE HEMPSTEAD PLAINS 275 
Bartonin Vis VEC eS ра EO IR e AES RR CES 8-9 cream 
Vsola АЙШЕ ООН e ра Ии у йуу ew rue eu DX Ne E 
Hüonstoifa Jongtola: ааа 5-6 pink-purple T 
мна gentianoides) PEA CUP Sh SEEE SM A OES 
Antenn plantaginifolis. са сара R dd 4-5 white Y 
Comandra ане ЕА пее NOS DPA ерата д НЕ 5-6 white 
ТИШИ врага НА мата us 8-9 white 
CRYPTOGAMS 
Cladonia symphycarpa epiphylla (and others) 
Ay aay juniperinum 
Boletus 
As in many other parts of the country, the trees all have vernal 
wind-pollinated flowers, and the same is true of most of the shrubs, 
Among the herbs the commonest species is wind-pollinated, but 
most of the others have yellow, white, or blue flowers (with little 
or no odor). There are more herbaceous flowers in spring than 
in midsummer, and more in fall than in spring, at least if we con- 
sider species regardless of their relative abundance. Plumose 
seeds or fruits prevail among the herbs, but '' tonoboles "' are quite 
common also. None of the herbs seem to have fleshy fruits, but 
the nut-like fruits of Comandra may be eaten by small mammals. 
Some of the smaller herbs, particularly the Polygalas, have ap- 
pendaged seeds which are thought to be adapted to transportation 
by ants. | 
Some dynamic studies of the upland vegetation were made in. 
1916. On Oct. 27, about a mile S.S.E. of Westbury Station, a 
typical sample of herbaceous vegetation, consisting chiefly of 
Andropogon scoparius (which constitutes the bulk of the herbage 
of the Plains) was cut close to the ground from a small measured 
area, so as to get the total annual growth per unit area, exclusive 
of a small amount of stubble and roots. It weighed 8,220 pounds 
per acre at the time, but then growth had probably ceased and 
the drying out begun, so that if it had been cut a month earlier 
the weight might have been greater. The same vegetation when 
air-dry weighed 5,975 pounds per acre, which is probably less 
than the average annual increment of vegetation in the eastern 
United States, though much higher than figures obtained by 
Shantz for somewhat similar vegetation in eastern Colorado.* 
` *U. S. Bur. Plant Industry Bull. 201: 81. I9II. 
