TORREYA 



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Vol. 21 No. 6 



November-December, 1921 



CAPE COD VEGETATION 



Roland M. Harter 



Cape Cod, which is approximately coextensive with Barnstable 

 County, ]\Iassachusetts, being practically the northernmost exten- 

 sion of the Atlantic coastal plain of North America, and easily 

 accessible from several large centers of population and scientific 

 activity, has attracted the attention of many botanists, past and 

 present. There are innumerable references to Cape Cod plants in 

 taxonomic and floristic works, but, strange to say, comparatively 

 few papers relating primarily to the flora of the Cape, and still 

 fewer that contain illustrations of the vegetation as such or give 

 any idea of the relative abundance of the species. 



The earliest work that deserves to be cited in this connection 

 perhaps is Thoreau's book, " Cape Cod," first published in 1865 

 (after the author's death), and reprinted in various editions. It 

 gives a very general idea of the aspects of nature, but devotes more 

 space to people than to plants, although the author was well ac- 

 quainted with the New England flora. 



The only paper on the land plants of Barnstable County cited 

 in Miss M. A, Day's list of New England local floras* is a short 

 one by Walter Deane, entitled "A Few Cape Cod Plants" (Bot. 

 Gaz. 14: 45-47. 1889). This relates to the vicinity of Hyannis- 

 port, on the south side of the Cape. In the next few years after 

 the publication of Miss Day's list several important papers on 

 Cape Cod vegetation (as distinguished from mere flora*) appeared. 



Dr. Arthur Hollick, in his " Geological and botanical notes : 

 Cape Cod and Chappaquiddick Island, Mass." (Bull. N. Y. Bot. 



* Rhodara i: 158. 1899. 



t For a discussion of the difference between vegetation and flora see 

 ToRREYA 17: 1-3. 1917. 



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