Vol. 5 No. II 



TORREYA NElfC^ 



November, 1905 Q '. 



Till': PLANT FORMATIONS OF THE ADIRON 

 DACK MOUNTAINS 



\'<\ J'.ll.N W. lI.\RSIIlii:K(;KK 



Geolof^ically and phj'siographically, the life-histoiy of the 

 Adirondack Mountains has been long and complex. Commenc- 

 ing at some period of Archean time, long before the beginning 

 of the known geologic record, they have maintained a land con- 

 dition almost, if not quite, down to the present time. Since the 

 earliest time many thousands of feet of strata have been re- 

 moved, until now the various elevations stand revealed to us in 

 a plancd-down character. We now find them to be mountains 

 of considerable elevation, somewhat rugged in outline, but much 

 less rugged than the Andes, Alps, or Rocky Mountains. There 

 are few lofty, inaccessible cliffs, but instead, refunded, easily 

 scaled hills and mountain peaks, reaching only very rarely to a 

 height greater than one mile above sea-level. This rounded 

 form has been emphasized by the scouring action of the ice of 

 the glacial period, which covered the highest peaks of these 

 mountains. Mt. Tahawus (Mt. Marcy) is the highest peak 

 (5,344 feet) and Mt. Mclntyre comes next (5,1 12 feet). 



The plant formations have been developed in the period of 

 time since the retreat of the glacial ice-sheet. One can clearly 

 trace the sequence of development, not only in the conversion of 

 lakes into bogs and bogs into mountain meadows, but also in the 

 forest formations and associations themselves. The following 

 brief account presents the result of a study of these formations 

 made in the summer of 1904, when the author had the pleasure 

 of botanizing with IJr. Oscar Drude, professor of botan\' in the 

 Dresden Technical High School and director of the Royal Bo- 

 2^ tanic Garden, Dresden. The elevations were determined by 



-^ [No. 10, Vol. 5, of ToRRKVA, comprising pages 171-1S6, was issued Oclobe 

 =^ 27, I.;05.] 



> 187 





