62 BIG SPRING PRAIRIE. 



more prominent than in the lower area to the west and 

 north, on account of the abundance of water discharged 

 formerly by these springs, which preserved the accumu- 

 lation of plant remains, as in the neighborhood of Ox 

 Spring. This more elevated portion is characterized 

 by its rather dense sod of grasses and sedges with its 

 occasional Solidago, Eupatorium, Dryopteris thelyp- 

 teris, etc. 



To the west of this area there is another typical 

 Potentilla fruticosa, Betula pumila, Salix myrtilloides, 

 Rhus vernix heath, but the Lacinaria spicata and 

 Allium cernuum are lacking, the soil here being a pure 

 black muck of great depth. 



The following are as common here as at Ox Spring: 

 Solidago riddellii, Solidago ohioensis, Solidago cana- 

 densis, Dryopteris thelypteris. Aster novae-angliae^ 

 Helenium autumnal, Agrimonia parviflora, Coreopsis 

 tinctoria, Spathema foetida is more common. 



Ordinary weeds from cultivated ground seldom 

 occur here as few slight, and no severe prairie fires have 

 devastated this portion. The absence of severe prairie 

 fires is chiefly accounted for by its distance from rail- 

 road. The sod is broken in such few places that seed- 

 ling poplars and willows are not common. Still further 

 to the west and north there occurs an extensive heath 

 of the Rosa Carolina, Potentilla fruticosa variety rep- 

 resented in fig. 13. 



South of new road No. 2 there is an extensive 

 Rosa Carolina, Sambucus canadensis, Potentilla fruti- 

 cosa heath. No willows or poplars of any consequence 

 occur here now, although numerous young trees were 

 quite abundant eight to ten years ago, as the remains 

 were still strewn about upon the ground, or were still 

 standing as dead trunks. Most probably they were 

 destroyed by a prairie fire, severe enough to kill the 

 trees, not severe enough to burn the soil. 



