5o8 



Garden and Forest. 



fNuMBER 244. 



trus scandens frequent the sunny heights. On the rocky fiats 

 of the table-land, where neither shrub nor tree is able to gain a 

 foothold, Arenaria brevitolia, Talinum teretitoliuni, Sedum 

 ternatuni, and Opuntia Ratinesquii till every hollow and 

 crevice. Senecio aureus, var. Balsaniit:c, frequent on the bor- 

 ders of wood-lands, becomes by its abundance a troublesome 

 weed in the pastures and fields. Rubus strigosus covers low 

 grassy banks. The forests on the plateaus of Lookout Moun- 

 tain are open, the Mountain Oak frequently prevailing with 

 Scarlet Oak. Post Oak ((Xiercus minor) and Black Jack (O. 

 nigra), Chestnut and Hickories are less frequently met with, 

 and the Scrub Pine, Pinus Virginiensis, the only one of its kind 

 found in this part of Lookout Mountain, is seen in greatest per- 

 fection in detached groups. The springy soil in the gentle 

 depressions of the table-land is covered by a most luxuriant 

 growth of beautiful shrubs, and these also shade the rocky 

 banks of the water-courses. In the first of these situations 

 abound Rhododendron arborescens, R. nudiflorum, R. visco- 

 sum, Calycanthus floridus. Ilex Monticola, Vaccinium virga- 

 tum, and a peculiar form of V. stamineum, three to four feet 

 in height, and, on account of its large edible berries, known by 

 the settlers as the Wild Gooseberry, while the rocky banks of 

 the creeks are preferred by Rhododendron maximum, Kalmia 

 latifolia, Calycanthus glaucus and by Viburnum cassinoides. 

 This shrub from the Saskatchewan Valley and the north of 

 New England, extending to the sunny hills of Alabama, over- 

 shadows on the banks of Little or De Soto River the Sarra- 

 cenias and Eriocaulons common in the lower south, such as 

 Sarraceniaflava,Eriocaulongnaphalodes,andLachnocaulonMi- 

 chauxii, which have established themselves on the grass and 

 sedge covered sands thrown up on the banks of the stream. 

 Diervilla sessilifolia is frequent on the rocky hill-sides of the 

 narrow valleys, with Coreopsis verticillata, i3igelovia nudata, 

 var. virgata, Galax aphylla, Thalictrum clavatum, Viola ros- 

 trata and V. striata on the rocky shaded banks moistened by 

 never-ceasing rivulets. Thalictrum dioicum, Asarum Virgin- 

 ianum and Saxifraga Virginiensis prefer rocky ledges and hill- 

 sides covered by a drier soil with Deschampsia flexuosa, Fes- 

 tuca nutans, Danthonia compressa, Eatonia Pennsylvanica and 

 E. Dudleyi. Asplenium Bradleyi, sparsely scattered throughout 

 the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee and southern Ken- 

 tucky, has been found on the damp base of deeply shaded 

 rocks. Asplenium pinnatifidum, A. montanum, A. Rula-mur- 

 aria and Cheilanthes vestitata prefer exposed cliffs, and Adi- 

 antum pedatum, Aspidium marginale, Dicksonia punctilobula, 

 Cystopteris fragilis love shaded ravines. 



Of the sixty-two species of vascular plants, outside of the 

 forest-trees common everywhere, observed in this higher 

 mountain-region, thirty-five, or fifty-six per cent., are most fre- 

 quently distributed in the northern states ; fourteen species, or 

 twenty-three per cent., have a pronounced southern distribu- 

 tion, and twelve species, or little less than twenty per cent., 

 are typical southern plants. 



Descending from the higher mountain region to the table- 

 lands and ranges capped by the conglomerates of the coal- 

 measures, not exceeding in their average elevation 750 feet 

 above the sea, the character of the vegetation changes with 

 the frequent appearance of evergreen conifers among the de- 

 ciduous-leaved trees of the forest. The Short-leaf Pine (P. 

 echinata) crowns the ridges of a meagre and dry soil, and the 

 Loblolly Pine covers the damp depressions, devoid of drain- 

 age, of the table-land ; upon these swales, from a fraction of 

 an acre to several in extent, this tree arrives at the best of its 

 development and furnishes the greater part of the lumber- 

 supplies drawn from this region. The Scrub Pine is here 

 rarely seen, and the Mountain Oak much less frequently met 

 with, while the Black Oak (Ouercus tinctoria), Spanish Oak, 

 Post Oak, Scarlet Oak, with~the Chestnut and Mockernut 

 Hickory, prevail in the closer soils of the table-land. Oaks 

 of semi-persistent foliage, like O. uliginosa and O. Phellos, 

 make their appearance in the coves and along the banks of 

 streams ; Magnolias take a prominent place in the forests of 

 the elevated valleys beside the Black Sugar iVIaple, Ohio Buck- 

 eves, huge Poplars, White Ash and White Oak. In a valley 

 with such a tree-covering on Sand Mountain, near the west- 

 ern border of this region in Alabama, was Magnolia cordata 

 discovered in 1880; a tree with characters but little understood 

 before that time and its distribution involved in obscurity. 

 From the Alabama specimen, it was evident that it was want- 

 ing in specific characters to separate it from M. acuminata, 

 and it was hence admitted by Professor Sargent as M. acumi- 

 nata, var. cordata, in the Silva of North America. On the 

 rocky banks of the middle fork of Sipsey River, a tributary of 

 the Warrior River, in connection with the valley in which the 

 yellow-flowered Magnolia finds its secluded home, are found 



groves of stately Hemlocks along the course of the creek to its 

 junction with the main stream for a distance of from twelve to 

 htteen miles, where this tree reaches its southern limit. It is 

 remarkable to find on this, its extreme and perfectly isolated 

 outpost, the Hemlock associated with the Cherry Birch (Betula 

 lenta), one of its companions in its northernmost home. Of 

 trees ot smaller size are to be mentioned Oxydendrum arbo- 

 reum and Halesia tetraptera ; of shrubs, the Azaleas, common 

 in the higher region, to which are to be added Stuartia penta- 

 gyna, S. Virginica, Ilex mollis, I. longipes, Robinia hispida, 

 var. Ehiottii, Andromeda ligustrina, Vaccinium virgatum, V. 

 vacillans, ^^ arboreum and a host of Hawthorns, Cratgegus spa- 

 thula, C. coccinea, var. mollis, C. Crus-galli. The rare Dar- 

 beyia umbellulata is endemic in this lower mountain region of 

 Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina, and it is only from the 

 station recently discovered in the latter state that pistillate 

 plants have become known. 



The crescent-shaped cavities, worn by the action of running 

 water in the perpendicular walls of sandstone enclosing the 

 deep gorges and narrow valleys so frequently intersecting the 

 table-lands, give shelter to the most delicate and rarest of 

 Ferns; Trichomanes radicans covers with its rooting-stems 

 the walls of these gloomy recesses, called rock-houses, drip- 

 ping with moisture, never reached by a direct ray of the sun, 

 protected against sudden changes of temperature and aerial 

 currents. The tiny T. Petersii, forming dense mats resembling 

 in its habit a Liverwort, is found solely in their darkest and 

 most hidden recesses. On the threshold rocks to these cav- 

 erns Heuchera Rugelii is chiefly found ; and on the exposed 

 sandstone rocks Silene rotundifolia, S. Pennsylvanica and a 

 variety of Ferns, such as Cheilanthes Alabamensis, C. tomen- 

 tosa, Asplenium parvulum and A. pinnatifidum. Fully twenty- 

 five per cent, of the plants so far observed in this lower moun- 

 tain region are very rarely, if ever, found nortli of latitude 

 36° 30', the line that separates the northern and the southern 

 flora of eastern North America. 



On the lower flanks of the mountains, where the outcrops 

 of the mountain limestone form rocky declivities, and upon 

 the calcareous lower hills the aspect of the flora is totally 

 changed. The Red Cedar replaces the Pine among the de- 

 ciduous trees, and in the most rugged localites occupies the 

 ground exclusively, its dark foliage denoting in sharp outlines 

 its presence at a distance. North of the Tennessee River in 

 the openings of the dense Cedar-glades the surface of the flat 

 rocks in the early days of spring is covered with the Draba 

 Caroliniana, D. brachycarpa, Leavenworthia Michauxii, Clay- 

 tonia Virginica, Arenaria petula, A. serpyllifolia, Bellis peren- 

 nis. Ranunculus fascicularis, while the more open woods and 

 copses of the hillsides, with a more varied tree-growth, pre- 

 sent an array of herbs and annual plants rich in the varied 

 hues of their flowers, such as Sedum pulchellum, Cynoglos- 

 suin Virginicum, Lithospermum tuberosum, L. canescens, 

 Phacelia bipinnatifida, P. fimbriata. Salvia urticifoKa, Scutel- 

 laria versicolor, var. mollis, S. serrata, Monarda fistulosa, var. 

 mollis, M. Bradburiana and Opuntia Rafinesquii, followed by 

 the golden-flowered Hypericum (H. aureum) and H. cisti- 

 folium. Among the shrubs characteristic of the flora of these 

 calcareous ridges are Forestiera ligustrina, Rhus Canadensis, 

 and Symphoricarpus vulgaris, while among the trees confined 

 in Alabama to the ranges of the mountain limestone among the 

 outliers of the Cumberland Mountains are Cotinus Americanus, 

 ^Esculus glabra and Fraxinus quadrangulata. Fraxinus 

 Americana, var. microcarpa, fo.und to extend to the cretaceous 

 hills in the centre of the state, occurs here with its fruit-bear- 

 ing perfect seeds. This pretty tree, not exceeding twenty-five 

 feet in height, with its widespreading limbs and drooping 

 branches, can, therefore, not be regarded as a hybrid, and by 

 the constant character of its fruit appears to be a proper 

 species. As such it has been recognized first by Vasey, who, 

 in his catalogue of the forest-trees of the United States, men- 

 tioned this tree under the name of Fraxinus Curtisii. Cotinus 

 Americanus has been found on the summit of one of the high- 

 est limestone ridges near Gurley to cover tracts of several 

 acres in extent, and there seems no doubt that this beautiful 

 tree is found in such situations upon many of these detached 

 spurs of the Cumberland Mountains in Alabama. 



The three great functions of mountains — those of giving 

 motion and change to water, air and earth — are indispensable 

 to human existence. And thus those desolate and threatening 

 ranges of dark mountain, which in nearly all agesof the world 

 men have looked upon with aversion or with terror, are sources 

 of life and happiness far fuller and more beneficent than all 

 the bright fruilfulness of the plain. The valleys only feed ; 

 the mountains feed and guard and strengthen us. — Ruskin. 



