139 



Tlie only information given as to the geographical distribution 

 of this species in the original description is " On rocks, Georgia," 

 and the label of the type specimen in the Torrey Herbarium 

 bears the same data, l^ut a couple of years ago I came across 

 a passage in the " Letters of Asa Gray" (p. 652) which throws 

 more light on the subject, and this led me to investigate the 

 matter. In a letter to Mr. Canby, dated May 12, 1875, and 

 referring to a visit to Stone Mountain a few weeks before, Dr. 

 Gray says : " The moment I set eyes on the Airiiaria of Stone 

 IMountain, I said, Ho ! here is A. brcvifolia Nuttall, of which I 

 had only a single stalk in herbarium. Comparing now, I was right, 

 and Nuttall says his specimen is from Tattnall County (which is 

 strange, that being in southeast Geoi*gia)." 



Tattnall County is a typical pine-barren county, far down in 

 the coastal plain (its center being about 100 miles from the 

 granite region and 60 miles from the coast), and its natural features 

 are altogether different from those of the granite region. It 

 seemed therefore most likely that there must be some mistake 

 about the report of Aroiaria brevifolia from this count}'. But 

 my curiosit}' was aroused, and ha\'ing occasion to spend a few 

 da\'s in Tattnall County in the summer of 1903, I determined to 

 do what I could toward verifying or disproving this report. On 

 makmg iiuiuir}' for rock outcrops (which are not generally known 

 to exist in the pine-barrens), I was soon directed to some, on the 

 right bank of the Ohoopee River, about four miles from Reids- 

 ville. At this point there are some ledges jutting out from the 

 hillsides close to the river, and near them a few flat outcrops of 

 the same rock, covering several square rods. This rock is a rather 

 fine-grained conglomerate, or indurated sand and cla}-, known 

 to geologists as Altamaha Grit, and believed to be of Upper 

 Oligocene age. The ledges have little vegetation on them except 

 mosses and lichens, but the flat rocks, strange to say, support a 

 flora strikingly similar to that of flat granite outcrops in Middle 

 Georgia. 



On reaching one of these flat rocks I got down on all fours, 

 and almost immediately found the object of my search : Annnria 

 brcvifolia. At that season of the year (June 24) the plants were 



