Tennessee Flora. 21 



undisturbed by cultivation. To clear them is to convert them into 

 ■deserts. In some parts they are exclusively occupied by the cedar, 

 Tvith a small percentage of deciduous trees intermingled. 



Trees distinguishing this ground and region are the overcup 

 ■oak {Quercus lyrata), bur oak {Quercus macrocarpa), in moist 

 soils; the water Spanish oak (Quercus Texana), in wet lands. 

 The former two are the largest of our oaks. The yellow chestnut 

 ■oak (Quercus Muhlenbergii) grows in wet and dry soil. The shin- 

 gle oak, (Quercus imhricaria) , with undivided lanceolate leaves, like 

 the willow, makes a large, well-shaped, and very ornamental tree. 

 White oaks, post oaks, black oaks, and red oaks are equally dissemi- 

 nated. Elms, very large and numerous, add four species. Two va- 

 rieties of shellbark hickory belong to rich bottoms, and mocker-nut 

 and pignut hickory to the hills. The pecan nut (Cory a- oKvceformis) 

 occurs here and there in single old trees, probably planted by early 

 settlers. Black walnut (Juglans nigra) has formerly been co- 

 pious; white walnut is scattered along the river and creek banks 

 and swamps. The Ohio buckeye abounds on the north side of 

 Cuihberland Eiver. In Hadley's Bend, near Edgefield Junction, 

 are groves of holly with 30-ineh diameter of trunk. Catalpas are 

 rare, but the yellow wood ( Virgilia lutea) and the coffee tree ( Gym- 

 ■nocladus Cwnadensis) are very numerous on the rich hillsides south 

 of ISTashville. Altogether, we have about one hundred different 

 kinds of timber in the immediate vicinity of Nashville. 



The climbing form of growth is an eminently Southern type, lov- 

 ing rich soils and moisture, addicted to the forest which it is des- 

 tined to embellish. Multiform ligneous and herbaceous climbers, 

 stragglers, and creepers tangle and barricade the woodlands. Five 

 different grapevines fill the air in May with the sweet fragrance of 

 their fiowers — ^the summer grape (Yitis wstivalis) on dry or rocky 

 ground; the winter grape (Vitis cordifolia) on rich and moist 

 lands, especially river banks. A variety of this with lobed leaves 

 (Vitis ^ripwria) grows copiously on Mill Creek. The rock grape 

 (Vitis rupestris), on rocky bluffs, is a Western species, not discov- 

 ered before east of the Mississippi. All these bear edible fruit, and 

 are serviceable for root grafting with imported varieties, such vines 

 being more resistant to the aggression of the root phylloxera. Two 

 species with inedible fruit (Vitis indivisa, and Vitis bipinnata) 

 may also be mentioned. The woolly-leaved Dutchman's pipe (Aris- 

 tolochia tomentosa) , the wistaria, the bignonia, and the trumpet 



