66o NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



long as the trunk. The trees are from i to 6 feet high. In the de- 

 pressions they are too tall to be disregarded in our rambles and their 

 branches are too low and too closely interlocked to admit an easy passage 

 through the almost impenetrable thickets they form. The little scrubby 

 spruces scarcely venture to grow in an upright position. They spread 

 over the ground in a half prostrate way as if in imitation of the low 

 juniper or the ground hemlock. The season for plant growth and 

 activity is so short that the annual elongation of their stems and branches 

 is scarcely more than i or 2 inches. 



The number of plants growing here that in lower stations are found 

 in marshes and wet places is remarkable. Several species of peat moss, 

 most of the sedges, blue joint grass, the cranberry, the svvamp laurel, 

 leather leaf and Labrador tea are examples of this kind. Showers are fre- 

 quent, the top of the mountain is often capped by clouds, the low tem- 

 perature retards evaporation, the mosses hold back the water and the 

 abundant humus in the soil is also retentive of moisture. All these unite 

 in producing conditions favorable to the growth of marsh plants. 



The number of annual plants is very small. Most of the flow^ering 

 plants are either perennial herbs or plants with woody stems. The 

 mosses and lichens are mostly perennial. Some of the conditions inci- 

 dent to the locality must be unfavorable to the growth and persistency 

 of annual plants. 



The character of the flora is subject to change. Some species disap- 

 pear, others appear. About 60 years ago the moss plant, Cassiope 

 hypnoides, was growing here in a sheltered depression, but in none of my 

 visits to this place have I been able to find it. In my early visits the 

 tall white bog orchis was here, but it has not been seen in any of my 

 recent visits. It is very probable that both these plants are no longer 

 inhabitants of this station. In my last visit a small patch of timothy 

 grass, Phleum prateiise^ was found growing on the very top of the moun- 

 tain near the signal station. It must be a recent introduction, for it 

 could not have escaped notice in such a con.spicuous place if it had been 

 there at the time of my previous visits. Some plants are apparently more 

 abundant now than at my earlier visits. Then the scrub birch was seen 

 in small quantity and appeared to be in danger of extinction. Now it is 

 quite plendful and apparently spreading. It is abundant about the bor- 

 ders of the sloping marsh mentioned on a preceding page. 



Many of the species of flowering plants growing here are such as 

 blossom early in the season. The sweet white violet, oblong fruited 



