44 BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN MEMOIRS 



region in 1849 wrote then of woods at Montauk, as follows: "There are two 

 tracts of woodland, known as "the Hither Woods," and "the Point Woods." 

 Solitary and decaying trunks over all the country show that not many 

 years since it was covered much more extensively and perhaps wholly with 

 forest. ' 



There is all the appearance today of great age for certainly the trees 

 look very old. Many times they are not over forty feet tall, so that it is 

 not their height that suggests age. Festooned as many of them are by 

 lichens, and the forest floor under them often carpeted with Cladonia fur- 

 cata racemosa, they stand "like the druids of eld," clad in the misty grayness 

 of antiquity. The frequency of trees that have toppled over as they died, 

 and lie rotting on the leaf-carpeted ground — all these, with the undisturbed 

 look of the place, give one just such an impression of long occupancy for 

 this forest, as the historical records indicate. 



While the woods are thus a striking feature of the landscape, it is their 

 lee contact with the open Downs that is of chief interest in considering what 

 is the role of this forest in the vegetation history of the Point. So that we 

 can better understand the composition of this forest, and as a record of 

 what sort of growth it is that seems to have such an aggressive fringe, the 

 following list is submitted. The species are arranged under Trees, Shrubs, 

 and Herbs, and under each of these groups the species are listed in the order 

 of their frequency. 



Canopy trees 



Quercus velutina 

 Quercus alba 

 Quercus coccinea 

 Quercus rubra (rare) 



Undergrowth 



Kalmia latifolia 1 , 



„ , . , >dommant 



Gaylussacia baccata J 



Sassafras Sassafras rare, only young plants seen 



Padus virginiana 



Vaccinium angustifolium 



Ilex opaca 



Amelanchier canadensis 



Amelanchier nantucketensis 



Parthenocissus quinquefolia 



Smilax rotundifolia 



Vaccinium vacillans, frequently with V. angustifolium making 



large exclusive patches 



