215 



are common. The ground is not deeply shaded and the low, 

 dense underbrush is quite xerophytic, being composed largely of 

 Gaylussacia baccata, Vaccinium corymbosum, Vaccinium stamin- 

 eum, and Corylus americana. It is of course not impossible that 

 the xero-mesophytic nature of the tract is due to its extremely 

 exposed location and that it really represents a virgin forest. 

 Moreover it must be borne in mind that in general the forests 

 of eastern Connecticut are less mesophytic than are those in 

 other parts of the state. 



No primeval tracts of undoubted authenticity have yet been 

 discovered either in the central lowland or in southwestern 

 Connecticut. There is, however, a small grove at the head 

 of Lake Saltonstall, in East Haven, which is certainly very close 

 to the virgin condition and which probably represents the type 

 of forest that formerly prevailed along the lower slopes and 

 moister parts of the trap ranges. Hemlock is the character tree 

 here and associated with it are beech, chestnut, sugar maple, 

 red oak, and ash. Many of the trees are of large dimensions. It 

 seems not unlikely, also, that some of the sand plain forests of 

 Pinus rigida, such as are common in the region about Farmington, 

 may be virgin or nearly so. These will be referred to again in a 

 later paper. 



Yale University 



FOUR UNDESCRIBED WEST INDIAN SEDGES 



By N. L. Britton 



/ Stenophyllus Wilsoni sp. nov. 



Perennial by short stout rootstocks; culms clustered, some- 

 what flattened, smooth, stiff but rather slender, erect, 2-3 dm. 

 tall. Basal sheaths 3 or 4, bladeless, acute, many-nerved, 

 floccose-pubescent, the upper with a scarious margin. Spikelets 

 2-5 together in a terminal capitate cluster subtended by a 

 subulate bract 0.5-2 cm. long, or sometimes by 2 bracts; spikelets 

 linear-oblong, much compressed, 1-2 cm. long, 4 mm. wide; 

 scales narrowly oblong to oblong-lanceolate, loosely pubescent, 



