100 



ment, is a forest composed largely of deciduous trees and hemlock. 

 Considering this forest as a unit the following comprise the most 

 important arborescent species: 



Castanea dentata Liriodendron Tiilipifera 



Qitercus rubra Fraxiniis americana 



Querciis alba Tilia americana 



Acer Saccharum Betula lutea 



Acer ruhriim Pinus Strobus 



Fagus grandifolia Primus serotina 



Tsuga canadensis Hicoria sp. 



But the forest is by no means uniform in structure throughout the 

 state. Most widely disseminated and of greatest economic im- 

 portance is the "sprout hardwood" type which represents the 

 usual climax formation over fully five sixths of the state. This 

 type of forest attains its highest development in the central 

 lowland and along the coast, where it is dominated by chestnut, 

 oaks, and red maple. The tulip tree is commoner here than 

 elsewhere; Ostrya virginiana and Cornus florida are conspicuous 

 secondary species; while Hamamelis virginiana and Kalmia latir- 

 folia — this latter the State Flower of Connecticut — are almost 

 universally present. In eastern Connecticut the chestnut is of 

 comparatively subsidiary importance, oaks being the dominant 

 trees; the forest here is obviously less mesophytic than in the 

 lowland and along the coast. But it is in the northwesten 

 part of the state that the most mesophytic conditions prevail, 

 and the climax forest here conforms with the "northern hard- 

 wood" rather than the "sprout hardwood " type. Here hemlock, 

 beech, and sugar maple, together with yellow birch characterize 

 the virgin woodland; (Fig. 3) Acer pennsylvanicum and Acer 

 spicatum replace the hop hornbeam and dogwood; while, in addi- 

 tion to the omnipresent laurel, the undergrowth is made up very 

 largely of Viburnum alnifolium and Taxus canadensis. To what 

 degree these modifications in forest composition should be 

 attributed to contemporaneous factors cannot be definitely 

 decided. In a measure the presence or absence of particular 

 species may be the result of geographic position, but it seems 



