REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST, 1 898 66 1 



Juneberry, fetid currant, mountain fly honeysuckle, bluets, leather leaf 

 swamp laurel, ^Lapland rosebay, Lapland diapensia, scrub birch, green 

 alder, bearberry willow, tufted club rush and alpine holy grass are 

 examples of this kind. All these may be found in flower in June and 

 some of them early in the month, soon after the snow has disappeared. 

 On June lo, a few feet below the eastern margin of the snow bank 

 still remaining at the upper end of the sloping marsh, the little bluets, 

 Houstofiia coerulea^ had commenced its growth. A few feet away its 

 flower buds had developed while the plants growing bilt a little farther 

 down the slope were in blossom. These plants had been uncovered first 

 and before the snow had melted and exposed the plants at the upper 

 end of the marsh, these more fortunate ones had developed and unfolded 

 their blossoms. By flowering early, more time remains in which to mature 

 and ripen their seeds. The shortness of the growing season is perhaps a 

 partial explanation of the presence of but few annual plants. Many of 

 them require a longer season for their growth and the perfection of their 

 seeds than is afforded here. 



Some plants that might be expected to occur on the open summit fail 

 to appear there. Some ascend almost to the tree limit but do not pass 

 it. Dalibarda, Canada blueberry, sheep laurel, mountain holly, arbor 

 vitae and cedar-like club moss are examples of this kind. Some of these 

 do appear above the tree limit on mountains of less altitude but I have 

 not seen them on the open summit of Mt Marcy. 



The higher the mountain in a given region, the greater the extent of 

 its open summit is likely to be, and the greater the extent of its open 

 summit the larger the number of species of plants inhabiting it, unless it 

 should reach above the limit of vegetation. As Mt Marcy surpasses its 

 neighbors in. altitude, so it surpasses them in the number of species of 

 plants inhabiting its open summit. The number of species of flowering 

 or seed bearing plants credited to it in the subjoined list is 75. A census 

 of the species growing on the open summit of Mt Mclntyre was taken 

 a year ago and the number of species was found to be 48, Mt Mclntyre 

 is almost as high as Mt Marcy, standing second in rank. The number 

 of species found on Mt Marcy exceeds those on Mt Mclntyre by 27. 

 But there are 29 species on Mt Marcy that were not seen on Mt 

 Mclntyre and two on Mt Mclntyre that were not found on Mt Marcy. 

 These two are Kalmia angiistifoiia L. and Ilicioides mucronata^ (L.) Britten. 



