59 



In this habitat, or group of habitats, the trees overshadow all 

 the other vegetation, except on the very summits of the ridges, but 

 they hardly make the dense shade characteristic of a climax forest. 

 Some of the herbs have thickened or reduced leaves, and are 

 capable of flourishing in perfectly treeless habitats, while others 

 are distinctly shade-loving, having thin and broad leaves. The 

 scarcity of pines, other evergreens, and vines is noteworthy.* 



About two thirds of the shrubs and two or three of the herbs 

 belong to the Ericaceae and allied families. Compositae, Um- 

 belliferae, and Melanthaceae are also pretty well represented. 

 Only about 12 per cent, of the angiosperms are monocotyledons. 



Between 1 5 and 20 per cent, of the species seem to have their 

 centers of distribution right in these mountains, though none are 

 confined to North Carolina, Many of the remainder are common 

 on bluffs in all the southeastern states, and still more are widely 

 distributed in various habitats in the northeastern states. A large 

 proportion of them have been reported from the mountains of 

 New York by Dr. Harshberger.f 



The wet rocky ravines at the heads of streams have a charac- 

 teristic and interesting but not very rich flora. This habitat 

 seems to be much better developed in the Pink Beds than in the 

 parts of Haywood County that I visited, where I found only the 

 following species in it : 



Shrubs Herbs 



Rhododendron maximum Houstonia serpyllifolia 



Chelone Cuthbertii ? 

 Impatiens biflora 

 Chelone glabra 

 Diphylleia cymosa J 

 Osmunda cinnamomea 

 Thalictrum clavatum :f 

 Carex gracillima ? 

 Aconitum uncinatum? 



* This type of forest corresponds with a part of Ashe's "forests of the highe 

 mountains" (Bull. N. C. Geol. Surv. 6 : 219-222. pi. 2j. 1898), and more exactlj 

 with the "chestnut slope type " described by F. W. Reed in the vicinity of Grand- 

 father Mountain (Bull. U. S. Bureau Forestry 60: 12-13. pi. 3. 1905). 



fTorreyas: 187-194; Plant World 8 : 276-281. 1905. 



X See Gray, Am. Jour. Sci. 42 : 23. 1842 ; Redfield, Bull. Torrey Club 6 : 338, 

 339- 1879- 



§See Gray, 1. c. 17 ; Redfield, 1. c. 338; Small & Heller, Mem. Torrey Club 

 3^ : 7- 1892. 



