Tin Adirondack Region of New York-. 4<>9 



have Been on the mountains only. The Bluejoint is common in 



wet places in the low lands as well as on the mountains. On the 

 other hand, Pickering's Bluejoint lives among the mountains, 

 although not always on the summits. It occurs at Lake Tear, 

 is Ponds and Lake Sanford. 



The Red Raspberry, Rubus strigosus^ occurs sparingly on the 

 open summit, whither its Beeds have been carried, probably by 

 birds or small animals. No fertile plants were seen, and it is 

 doubtful if it is sufficiently hardy to fruit in this bleak locality. 

 The Black Spruce is an example of a plant that can live here, but 

 trnggle for existence seems to require all its energies, for no 

 fruiting plants are Been. They are indeed unable to develop them- 

 selves into trees, for they remain in the form of low, half-prostrate, 

 matted bushes, bearing but a faint resemblance to the noble spruces 

 of the slopes and valleys below. It is on the leaves of these starved 

 and stunted spruces that the spruce rust-fungus, Periderm 'nun 

 larans, occurs. The Mountain Ash and the Paper Birch are also 

 examples of trees sufficiently hardy to live here in a dwarfed con- 

 dition, but not to produce fruit. The Balsam Fir, though gene- 

 rally dwarfed and sterile, lias a constitution a little more hardy and 

 iu some depressed or sheltered places attains a height of four or 

 five feet and bears a few small cones. Such shrubs as the Low 

 Blueberry, Leather-leaf, Labrador Tea and Green Alder, though 

 not limited to the mountain summits, are sufficiently at home there 

 to bear fruit. 



The most noticeable undershrubs are the Bog Bilberry, Cutler's 

 "Willow, the Crowberry and Lapland Diapensia. The first has a 

 very bushy aspect, its branches being numerous, its leaves roundish 

 and small, and its berries blue or bluish-black. It occurs also on 

 the slides and at Lake Tear. The second and third are nearly pros- 

 trate in habit, and form close mats over the surface. The willow 

 may be known by its round leaves and cottony aments, the Crow- 

 berry by its numerous small oblong leaves, black berries and heath- 

 like aspect. The Lapland Diapensia grows in tufts or dense 

 patches. It is almost herbaceous in aspect and but two or three 

 inches high. Its leaves are very narrow, blunt, and Bcarcely more 

 than half an inch long. They stand out in every direction from 

 the stem, and are sometimes strongly curved. The stem is sur- 

 mounted by a flower stalk which bears a Bingle erect white flower 

 about half an inch in diameter. The petals generally have disap- 

 peared by the time summer visitors reach the mountains. 



52 



