61 



examples.) Half the trees have wind-borne seeds, but among 

 the herbs a large proportion have berries or burs, adapted to be 

 carried off by animals, as is the case in many climax forests. 



About 15 per cent, of the angiosperms are monocotyledons. 

 The total absence of the Ericaceae and their alHes is significant. 

 The polypetalous families are well represented here, as in many 

 other parts of the north temperate zone where climax vegetation 

 prevails (the Tennessee valley of Alabama for instance). 



Only about 10 per cent, of these species can be regarded as 

 typical or characteristic mountain plants. Most of them are com- 

 mon to all parts of temperate eastern North America where there 

 are climax forests. There is an especially striking resemblance 

 between this list and that for certain shaded hillsides in the Pale- 

 ozoic region of Georgia, and even the valleys at the heads of 

 some of the bays on the northwestern shore of Long Island, par- 

 ticularly that of Little Neck Bay just within the limits of New 

 York City, which I had examined about a month before I went 

 to North Carolina. The majority of those listed here occur in 

 somewhat similar habitats in southeastern Pennsylvania, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Harshberger,* and nearly half extend to Southwest 

 Georgia f and the corresponding parts of Alabama. 



On the banks of the two forks of Pigeon River already men- 

 tioned, between 2,700 and 3,300 feet above sea-level, the follow- 

 ing species were noticed : 



Trees Shrubs 



Fagus grandifolia Rhododendron maximum 



Halesia Carolina Alnus rugosa 



Quercus imbricaria Leucothoe Catesbaei 



Quercus alba Kalmia latifolia 



Tsuga canadensis ViUs aestivalis? 



Acer rubrum Hamamelis virginiana 



Carpinus caroliniana Rhus radicans 



Aesculus octandra Ceanothus americanus 



Pyrus coronaria Lonicera sp. 



Crataegus sp. J Pyrularia pubera g 

 Tilia heterophylla ? 

 Robinia Pseudo-Acacia 



* See Bull. Torrey Club 31 : 143-148. 1904. 



I See Bull. Torrey Club 31 : 15-16. 1904. 



\ Probably of the coccinea group. Fruit ripe August "], 3-seeded. 



\ See Gray Am. Jour. Sci. 17 : 22. 1842. 



