Garex aestivalis and Carex lurida var. gracilis on the 

 Glaciated Allegheny Plateau 



Robert T. Clausen 



Alma Hill, in Allegany County, is one of the highest hills 

 (elev. 775 m.) in western New York. The flora and fauna both are 

 strong!}' characteristic of the Canadian Life Zone. Birds such as the 

 Olive-backed Thrush, Winter Wren, Blue-headed Vireo, and Junco 

 seem to be common breeding species there. Lycopodiuni annotinum 

 var. integrijolium, Dryopteris Phegopteris, Schizachne purpuras- 

 cens, and Miliitui cffusuiu further suggest the northern character 

 of the region. On the wooded slopes, Carex radiata, a species which 

 is rare in central New York, is frequent. Carex aestivalis, even rarer 

 in central New York, occurs in dry rocky woods near the western 

 base of the hill. Along a brook, also on the west side of the hill, 

 at an elevation of 580 m., Carex lurida var. gracilis occurs. 



Data at hand indicate that both Carex aestivalis and C. lurida 

 var. gracilis are infrequent and local on the Glaciated Allegheny 

 Plateau. In the herbarium of Cornell University, neither sedge is 

 represented from this plateau in Pennsylvania or Ohio. ^Mackenzie 

 (1931— 35 j did not mention having seen specimens of either from 

 Ohio, although it is possible that both may eventually be discovered 

 in the northeastern part of that state. 



House (1924) recorded the range of C. aestivalis in New York 

 as "Dutchess county, the Catskill mountains and Otsego county, 

 southward." The two localities in Otsego County, Worcester and 

 East Worcester, are both on the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau. To 

 these may be added the following localities from which specimens 

 are available in the herbarium of Cornell University : woods, 

 4 Town Schoolhouse, Sempronius, 3 miles east of Moravia, Cayuga 

 County, July 11, 1882, herbarium Charles Atwood; Dresserville 

 Gulf, town of Sempronius, Cayuga County, September 12, 1896, 

 herbarium Atwood ; dry steep, shaded, sandy-clay bank, "The Nar- 

 rows" Slaterville to Caroline Center, Caroline, Tompkins County, 

 July 13, 1919, A. J. Eames, K. M. Wiegand, & L. F. Randolph 

 11594 ; roadside slope, wooded ravine just east of Bald Hill, Caro- 

 Hne, Tompkins County, July 2, 1936, M. IV. Allen 19329; dry 

 rocky woods near base of western slope of Alma Hill, Allegany 



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