34 



BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN MEMOIRS 



Kettleholes in this stage of development give an entirely different aspect 

 to the landscape from those that have already been described, where low 

 herbaceous plants predominate. The advent of shrubs, which is followed, 

 of course, by trees, can be interpreted only as one more step in that process 



Figure 8. General view of the beginnings of woody vegetation in low kettlehole. 

 For details see text and Figure 9. In the foreground the dominant Downs grass Schizachy- 

 rium scoparium comes right down to the edge of the kettlehole. The white flower is Eupa- 

 torium perfoliatum. 



of final woody covering going on very slowly, it is true, but none the less 

 surely. The final stage or climax of the vegetation is found in the densely 

 wooded, mysteriously dark and silent kettleholes, popularly supposed to 

 be malaria-ridden, and into which few care to penetrate. These heavily 

 wooded kettleholes are so much more conspicuous than the others that 



