Josseeyn Botanical Society 



11 



has specially appealed to me is the physiographic, and I ven- 

 ture to sketch an experience of a few years ago in order to 

 make clear what I mean by the term "physiographic." 



I was spending a month on a beautiful island near the 

 eastern shore of Lake Huron, one of the Oliphant Islands. 

 This island was beautiful largely because it had been left 

 alone for the most part, and had not been grazed by cattle or 

 even pawed over by very many bipeds. A few of the more 

 attractive plants observed were Castilleja coccinea (very abun- 

 dant), Primula farinosa (on the limestone shores), Hypericum 

 Kalmianum , Corallorrhiza striata, Parnassia palustris, Juni- 

 perus horizontalis . On an adjacent island my attention was 

 attracted by Utricularia cornuta and Calopogon pulchcllus 

 on the sandy shore. In the shallow water adjoining was an 

 extensive society of Scirpus, probably occidentalism while back 

 from the shore a series of zones of certain grasses and sedges 

 made their appearance, leading back to groups of Larix of 

 increasing height up to twenty feet, mixed with smaller num- 

 bers of Thuja occidentalis and Betula populifolia. A further 

 examination showed that the area in question was really a flat 

 neck joining two islands, and inquiry elicited the report that 

 these two islands had been entirely separate twenty years ago. 

 A consideration of the available evidence, derived chiefly 

 from the vegetation, showed that by the accumulation of sedi- 

 ment the two islands had become connected at a certain point, 

 and that the neck so formed had extended at a rate which 

 could be calculated within narrow limits. It was also appar- 

 ent what plants had been instrumental in these changes, what 

 plants had been pioneers in the succession of vegetation on 

 the area, and what plants had followed in the same area 

 as the substratum became drier. It was natural to seek an 

 explanation for the differences between the arboreous vegeta- 

 tion of this neck and of the adjacent islands, but I shall not 

 weary you with further details, for the object of this illustra- 

 tion is to show what is meant by physiographic ecology, and 

 to suggest that many of us will find that well-known regions 

 take on a new interest when examined in this light rather 

 than merely as areas where new species may be run to earth. 

 In an area such as the one mentioned a number of interest- 

 ing questions present themselves, and in order to furnish a 



