The Flora of the Cayuga Lake Basin 443 



with an occasional sand " blow-out," and supports a noncalcareous flora. In the 

 general drumlin area a few lake-bottom soil deposits are found, and a considerable 

 quantity of muck and peat. The most extensive muck deposits are in the Montezuma 

 Marshes, where they are many miles in extent. These marshes are underlaid, in 

 part at least, by a layer of marl. 



On the lowland in the Inlet Valley, the Salmon Creek valley, the Ellis Hollow 

 valley, and in patches about Freeville, are found rich alluvial soils containing much 

 organic matter and some lime. It is on these soils that a majority of the plants of 

 western affinity in the basin are located. Whether these western plants are localized 

 in the lake valley because of the soil or on account of other factors has not been 

 determined. The similarity of these rich soils to those in the Ohio and Mississippi 

 Valleys is suggestive, however. 



At the mouth of the ravines, and in many cases where the streams enter the lake, 

 gravelly deltas have been laid down. Gravel bars are frequent also along the stream 

 beds. On the lake shore the gravel thus deposited forms "points" jutting out into the 

 lake. On this gravelly soil many rare plants are found. 



Local but extreme types of soil, due to local conditions, are found here and there in 

 the basin. The occurrence of numerous highly calcareous springs has already been 

 noted, and also the occurrence of marl areas which are frequently formed where the 

 springs discharge. Such areas usually exhibit a strongly calciphilous flora. At Junius 

 and South Cortland more extended marl lakes and bogs occur, the marl being ap- 

 parently deposited largely through the action of the alga Chara. In certain depres- 

 sions in which the water is not calcareous, peat bogs have formed which are distinctly 

 acid in reaction, and in these bogs a wholly different flora is found. The occurrence 

 and location of these bogs has already been noted. The bogs are inhabited largely by 

 ericaceous plants, orchids, and special sedges and grasses, all of which are adapted for 

 life in a highly organic acid soil deficient in mineral matter and nitrogen. The so- 

 called peat moss, Sphagnum, is an important and abundant component of the bog flora, 

 and insectivorous plants are not unusual. Underlying the living vegetation of these 

 bogs is a thick layer of peat formed by the partly decomposed plant remains. These 

 bogs were in most cases originally small open bodies of water, some of them non- 

 calcareous, others calcareous. In some cases they were small marl ponds over which 

 the acid peat began to form through some change not clearly understood. 41 This was 

 the history of some of the bogs at McLean. More generally the ponds seem to have 

 been -noncalcareous from the start. Certain characteristic plants, of which Chamae- 

 daphne calyculata was the principal one, began to grow slowly out from the edges of 

 the pond over the surface, forming a floating mat of vegetation. The continued 

 growth of the mat, accompanied by the disintegration of its older parts underneath, 

 gradually filled up the ponds, and through the action of various factors the ponds 

 changed into muck land. This has already been the history of many bogs. At the 

 muck stage the soil often shows a change to a less acid or even a neutral reaction. 

 Marl bogs show the same general history, except that, instead of Chamaedaphne, 

 the invading plants are generally sedges, particularly Carex lasiocarpa. The marl- 

 bog moor is usually a sedge-and : grass moor, and not predominantly ericaceous as 

 is the peat moor. These bog floras are more distinctive than any other special 

 floras in the basin. 



The more recent soil surveys of the basin have subdivided the types of soils, 

 and the areas have been very carefully mapped. There is much need now of a careful 

 correlation of the species of wild plants with these details of soil distribution. 



In general, it may be said that the soils of the Cayuga Lake Basin support a 

 calcareous- or a neutral-soil flora. Only in the oak-chestnut soils of the hills, in 

 the sands of Junius, on the ravine crests, and in the peat bogs, does a distinctly 



41 Relation of marl ponds and peat bogs. By W. W. Rowlee. Brooklyn Bot. Gard. Mem. 

 1:410-414. 1918. 



