CURRENT LITERATURE 
BOOK REVIEWS 
New Jersey pine barrens 
The coastal plain of New Jersey has long been famous for its unique 
vegetation. It probably shows the nearest approach to primeval forest in 
close proximity to a great center of population to be found anywhere. As a 
center of distribution of one group of species, and the area where two other 
groups, the one from the south and the other from the north, reach the limits 
of their range, it is equally noteworthy. These features, among others, have 
made its flora the subject of many papers, but in the present volume HaRsH- 
BERGER’ has brought together within the pages of a single volume a vast 
collection of facts, both new and old, that will go far toward making its vegeta- 
tion the most carefully studied and the best known upon the continent. 
The treatment of the vegetation is essentially ecological in the broadest 
sense, some phases of plant study being included that do not often come within 
that category. As examples we may cite the descriptions of cranberry culture, 
of the collecting of drug plants, and of the turpentine industry. It is, however, 
principally in the analysis of the various plant communities that the ecological 
value of the work lies. Nine great natural divisions of the vegetation are 
recognized, of which the flat pine barren, with its forest of Pinus rigida, sup- 
plemented by a few P. echinata and several species of dwarf oaks, is the most 
unique and interesting. Aside from the pines and oaks, various Ericaceae are 
conspicuous, comprising species of Vaccinium, Gaylussacia, and mia, 
Pinus rigida receives careful study, not only in its place as the dominant 
tree in the characteristic association, but also in its individual development, its 
various growth forms being illustrated in not less than 37 well drawn sketches. 
In general, it is a small tree, little over 30 feet in height, but in addition to the 
tree forms various gradations to bush shapes and elfin-wood are distinguished. 
In addition to the studies of the various plant associations, analysis of the 
vegetation according to JACCARD’s statistical method and RAUNKIAER’S life 
forms are presented. The biological spectrum shows the flora of the pine 
barrens to be particularly rich in hemicryptophytes and helophytes. In 
another chapter the phytophenology of the vegetation is presented, the time of 
flowering and fruiting being given for not less than 548 species. Not less 
* HARSHBERGER, JoHN W., The vegetation of the New Jersey pine barrens: 
An ecological investigation. 8vo. pp. xit+329. figs. 284 and map. Philadelphia: 
Christopher Sower Co. 1916. $5.00 
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