THE VEGETATION OF MONTAUK 33 



Iris versicolor 



Steironema lanceolatum 



Juncus acuminatus 



Scirpus cyperinus 



Scirpus americanus 



Persicaria hydropiperoides 



Hundreds of tiny seedlings of this were also found creeping 

 towards the center of the basin. 



Eupatorium perfoliatum 



Carex scoparia 



Rhexia virginica 



Ptilimnium capillaceum 

 There are sometimes other species found in kettleholes of this sort, 

 especially large patches of Aster novi-belgii in some of its forms, but they 

 are erratic and do not seem to occur with the regularity of those listed above. 

 A nearer photograph (Fig. 9) of the same kettlehole shows the arrange- 

 ment and distribution of the shrubs among the assemblage of herbs men- 

 tioned just above. Towards the center of the kettlehole all the bushes are 

 Cephalanthus occidentalis , whether dead or alive. As the photograph shows 

 some are dead, due often to water smothering, which may sometimes occur 

 in the center of the kettlehole even after bushes have gotten a foothold. 

 Towards the edges of the kettlehole, and in addition to the dominant 

 Cephalanthus occidentalis, four species of bushes entirely new to the kettle- 

 holes are found in considerable profusion. Of these Rosa virginiana is the 

 commonest, Rubus f rondo sus next, and much more rarely Vaccinium corym- 

 bosum. Occasional plants of Ilex verticillata are found and, nearly on the 

 edge of the Downs, Spiraea latifolia, which as we have seen is also found in 

 kettleholes otherwise entirely without woody vegetation. These shrubs, 

 and often Eupatorium perfoliatum, are often intertwined with Convolvulus 

 repens, also a new plant in such developing kettleholes. 



In a kettlehole southeast of the Inn toward the upper end of a deep 

 gully that runs easterly from the road from the railway station to the site 

 of the aviation camp (Great War 1917-1918), a curious variation of the 

 encroachment of woody plants is to be found. The kettlehole is steep- 

 sided and, in the early summer covered for at least a foot by water with a 

 specific acidity of 30 + . There is a marginal fringe of Clethra and Ilex 

 verticillata neither of which is common, but the center of the kettlehole is 

 full of Cephalanthus occidentalis. This is unquestionably a later stage in 

 succession than those previously noted. 



