55 



comparatively few precipices and waterfalls. These mountains 

 are much less rocky than the glaciated ones of the North, for in 

 the countless ages that they have been exposed to the weather 

 all but the hardest and steepest rocks have become deeply buried 

 in soil resulting from their own decay. 



The following descriptions of vegetation are intended to apply 

 only to areas more than 2,700 feet above sea-level. Below this 

 rather arbitrary Hmit in Haywood County the country is scarcely 

 mountainous, consisting mostly of broad valleys and low hills 

 with fertile red soil, very largely under cultivation, and the vege- 

 tation does not differ greatly from that of the Piedmont region 

 of the Carolinas and Georgia. 



Above the altitude just mentioned the principal habitats in this 

 county seem to be (i) mountain summits above 5,500 feet, (2) 

 slopes and lower summits below 5,500 feet, (3) wet ravines or 

 mountain rivulets, (4) rich ravines or steep coves, (5) river banks 

 and bottoms, (6) gravelly and muddy river beds, (7) wet meadows, 

 and (8) artificial or unnatural habitats. 



In the following lists the species are divided into trees, shrubs 

 and herbs, and then arranged as nearly as possible in order of 

 abundance. Evergreens, when known, are indicated by heavy 

 type, and vines by italics.* To make the lists more complete 

 and determine the relative abundance of the species more accu- 

 rately than would have been the case if I had adhered closely to 

 political boundaries, I have included in my calculations notes 

 made about a mile over the Jackson County line near Balsam, and 

 along the crest of the Pisgah Ridge, where I was sometimes a 

 few yards over the Transylvania County line. This will not in- 

 troduce any perceptible error into the results. 



The only mountain above 5,500 feet which I set foot on is 

 Cold Mountain, already mentioned. The Balsam Mountains, a 

 few miles farther west, are about 500 feet higher, and more 

 densely wooded, but 1 did not have a chance to visit them, and 

 little is known about the details of their vegetation. During 

 about an hour spent on and near the sharp summit of Cold 



* For explanation of a more elaborate method of treating habitat groups see Ann. 

 N. Y. Acad. Sci. 17 : 36-41. 1906. 



