Cetraria islandica in Sussex County, N.J. 



A large and robust colony of the Iceland Moss lichenj 

 Cetraria islandica, perhaps the only one now existing in the 

 State of New Jersey, was found by members of the Torrey 

 Botanical Club on Oct. 12, 1937, on the slanting ledges of High 

 Falls sandstone on the west side of a ridge, east of the road from 

 Montague to Port Jervis, in the town of Montague, Sussex 

 County, N. J. This ledge is a conspicuous feature of the ridge 

 as the forest cover appears to have slid ofif for an extent of 

 several acres. It is made more conspicuous from the road along 

 the east bank of the Delaware by the large white painted sign 

 of Rock View Inn, east of the slide. Glacial striae, pointing 

 southwest, and probably protected by forest soil until it slid 

 off, are frequent on the rock surface. 



The Cetraria islandica is found growing mixed with Cladonia 

 uncialis, sylvatica and rangiferina, and with grasses, other 

 herbaceous plants, and low shrubs, along lines of weakness in 

 the rock due to joint cracks. It is as tall, up to three Inches high, 

 as I have seen It in our range, or on Adirondack and New Eng- 

 land summits. It occurs scatterlngly In the range of the Torrey 

 Botanical Club; in occasional small colonies In undisturbed soil 

 in western Suffolk County, Long Island, and plentifully on the 

 Shinnecock Hills and in some places on Montauk Point, and at 

 East Marion on Orient Point. It has not been reported south 

 of the New Jersey Highlands. Tuckerman cites it at Delaware 

 Water Gap, reported by Austin, who collected all over north 

 Jersey 75 years ago, but does not say whether It was on the 

 New Jersey or Pennsylvania sides. I have rambled over Mount 

 Tammany and other mountains in the New Jersey side, of the 

 Water Gap, but have not seen it, nor have I seen it anywhere 

 In suitable places along Kittatinny Mountain, from Water Gap 

 to High Point. It occurs. In stunted forms, on the Shawangunk. 

 Mountain, at Sam's Point, High Point, and Gertrude's Nose; 

 and In small quantity, near the highest points on Schunemunk 

 Mountain, In Orange County. There is one good sized colony In 

 the Harriman Section of the Palisades Interstate Park, on the 

 Lichen Trail, on the northwest corner of Hogencamp Mountain, 

 overlooking Island Pond. I have not seen it elsewhere on sum- 



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