56 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLUB 



Meeting of October 18, 1939 



The meeting of the Torrey Botanical Club held at the New- 

 York Botanical Garden on Wednesday, October 18, was called to 

 order by the President, Dr. Arthur H. Graves, at 3.30 p.m. 



Twenty-four members and friends w'ere present. 



The following were elected to annual membership : Mr. J. 

 Horace Hatfield, Scotch Plains, N. J. ; Mr. William E. Roever, 

 Dept. of Bot., Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N. J., and Dr. Fred 

 M. Schellhammer, 1610 Lurting Avenue, Bronx, New York. 



Mr. Leonard W. Steiger, 835 Summit Ave., Hackensack, N. J., 

 was elected to associate membership. 



Dr. H. K. Svenson gave an interesting talk on Flowers of 

 Middle Tennessee which was illustrated by colored slides. Dr. 

 Svenson's abstract follows : 



"Photographs in natural color were presented showing types of the flora 

 of three sections of Tennessee : the cedar glades of Middle Tennessee, the 

 Cumberland Plateau, the Great Smokies. 



The cedar glades have a remarkable percentage of endemic plants which 

 seem to be related to, and are sometimes identical with, plants of prairies west 

 of the Mississippi River. Among the plants which were illustrated were 

 Psoralea subacaulis, Astragalus tennesseensis, Lobelia Gattingeri, Petalo- 

 sfeiiiuiii Gattingeri, Leavenworthia sp. The cedar glades, which are flat and 

 dry limestone exposures east of Nashville, were formerly covered by exten- 

 sive groves of red cedar. Nearly all of the sizable trees have been cut down 

 for the manufacture of lead pencils during the last fifty years, so that only a 

 scrub growth remains. These cedar glades occupy the central part of the 

 Nashville Basin, which is bounded on all sides by an escarpment about five 

 hundred feet high known as the Highland Rim, which forms the border of a 

 fairly level plateau. 



On the flat surface of this plateau [also known as the Highland Rim], 

 chiefly in Coffee Co., occurs a great assemblage of plants usually found only 

 on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Among the plants illustrated from this area 

 were Sabatia campanuJata. Lilimn supcrbiiiii. Habcnaria cristafa. H. ciliaris. 

 H. Integra, Phlox glaberrinia. 



To the east of the Highland Rim rises the escarpment of the Cumberland 

 Plateau, the base formed of limestone, the upper layers of resistant sandstones. 

 In flat places on the sandstone are also coastal plain plants similar to those of 

 the Highland Rim. The ravines of the Cumberland Plateau have a wealth of 

 holl3^ Magnolia nwcrophylla. Stczvartia. Xaiilhorhica. and a number of in- 

 teresting herbaceous plants such as Boykiiiia and Sa.vifraga Grayana. 



