98 



As would be expected of a weed flora few of the plants were 

 native, only 29 per cent., and over half were annuals. None of 

 the trees on the hillside near by were represented by seedlings 

 though their seeds must have been scattered over the field in the 

 fall. Black birches hung over the edge of the filled land but the 

 only birch seedlings were of the grey birch, possibly from a few 

 small trees some distance to the south along the base of the slope. 

 Seeds of many of the shrubs and herbs of the slope of the Pali- 

 sades must have been blown onto the area during the fall and 

 early spring, but conditions on the cinders were not favorable to 

 germination. 



The orders best represented were the grasses, with 17 species 

 and the composites, with 22 — the two together representing more 

 than 40 per cent, of the species — the grasses exceeding all other 

 plants in the abundance of individuals. Indications were that 

 many of the plants would survive for many seasons and give 

 character to the flora until sufficient humus had accumulated to 

 give foothold to other species. But the covering of the cinders 

 the following year either buried the seeds too deeply or brought 

 in so many sod-forming grasses as to crowd them out. A few 

 still persist but are not the dominant forms. A patch of sun- 

 flowers has come since where the one plant grew in 1917 but the 

 petunias, morning glory, KocJiia and most of the others have not 

 reappeared. The plants found were as follows: 



Synthcrisma fimbriata abundant over a small area. 



Paniciim capillare abundant over most of the area. 



Panicnm proUfenun a few large clumps. 



Echinochloa crus-galli common. 



Chaetochloa viridis widespread. 



Chaetochloa verticillata one or two plants. 



Chaetochloa Italica a very few plants. 



Muhlenbergia sylvaiica a very few plants. 



Phleiim pratense a very few plants. 



Aira caryophyllea a very few plants. 



Arena sativa a few, possibly from horse feed — as 



horses were used in leveling the 

 tract after filling. * 



Eleusine Indica few. 



Eragrostis major ; very few. 



Eragrostis capillaris few. 



