The Woody Plants of Kentucky. 7 



The records of localities must not be regarded as complete. In 

 this connection I must thank correspondents who have furnished in- 

 formation as to the trees of their respective localities. 



The woody plants of Kentucky are a very miscellaneous as- 

 semblage of species which appear to have been brought together by 

 a diversity of influences. Probably the mountains in the eastern 

 part of the State furnished most of them, having constituted a 

 sort of reservoir which overflowed as the land to the westward be- 

 came habitable. There is little in the present distribution of the 

 species indicating that any large number of them came to the west- 

 ern part of Kentucky directly from the north or west, indeed, it 

 looks as if the states immediately north of us had also received many 

 of their forest trees originally from the Appalachian Mountains, the 

 important route of migration having been along the Ohio River. 

 Nearly all of our species of pines are still most abundant in the 

 mountains, and but one (the scrub pine), has traveled very far to 

 the westward within the State. The red cedar has extended more 

 rapidly and farther than any of the true pines, but appears to have 

 had a similar origin, and this seems to he true even of the swamp 

 cypress. It still occurs locally along the Ohio River, tho now most 

 numerous in the extensive swamps along the Mississippi southward. 



This influence of the rivers on the distribution of our species 

 finds a striking illustration in plants regarded as specially char- 

 acteristic of mountainous country. Some of them grow far to the 

 westward of the mountains, in Edmonson, Warren, Barren and to 

 some extent other adjacent, more northern counties. The moun- 

 tain laurel, Magnolia tripetala, M. macrophylla, hemlock, fringe 

 tree, and some other less well known species occur along the Green 

 River in these counties, having apparentlv migrated here from the 

 headwaters of the river. Sheltered under its banks and bluffs from 

 the cold north winds and shielded by the heavy growth of vegetation 

 accompanying them, even magnolias have pushed out here as they 

 have done nowhere else in Kentucky. We find no trace of them 

 on the open elevated plateau known as the Bluegrass Region, and 

 they seem never to have occurred here. 



The intermediate position of the State results in the presence 

 of a surprising variety of species. Side by side in the mountains 



