June 16, ItOo.] 



SCIENCE. 



921 



The wire-grass countrj- takes its name from 

 the wire-grass, Aristida stricta, which is com- 

 mon all over it. In a broad sense, the wire- 

 grass country coincides with the pine-barrens, 

 which constitute about two-thirds of the coast- 

 al plain of Georgia, but for the present pur- 

 poses the term is restricted to the Altamaha 

 Grit region, an area of about 11,000 square 

 miles. 



The climate of the region, as compared with 

 New York City, is about 18° warmer in winter 

 and 9° warmer in summer. The rainfall 

 averages about iifty inches a year, and most 

 of it falls in the growing season. The geo- 

 graphical conditions are remarkably uniform 

 throughout, and on account of this uniformity 

 the flora is not very rich, only about one half 

 as many species being known there as in the 

 state of New Jersey, though the area is larger. 



The region is naturally forested through- 

 out, but the forests are mainly of long-leaf 

 pine, which gives little shade. Consequently, 

 the most striking feature of the vegetation as 

 a whole is the adaptation to sunlight, usually 

 manifested by reduction of leaf-surface. 



The plants of the wire-grass country can be 

 classified according to habitat into fifteen or 

 twenty groups. The principal habitats are 

 rock outcrops (constituting perhaps about one 

 one-hundredth of one per cent, of the area), 

 pine-barrens (over half the area), swamps, 

 ponds, sand-hills, hummocks and bluflfs, some 

 of these with several subdivisions. 



Civilization has influenced the flora prin- 

 cipally through agriculture, lumbering, tur- 

 pentining and fires. Only a small proportion 

 of the land may be said to be under cultiva- 

 tion. Lumbering has little effect on the her- 

 baceous flora, for the removal of the pine trees 

 does not appreciably diminish the amount of 

 shade. The turpentine operators have been 

 practically all over that part of the country, 

 and have done great damage to the forests. 

 Fires sweep over most of the region every 

 spring, being set purposely by stock-raisers to 

 burn off the dead grass, but the fires do little 

 damage where lumbering and turpentining 

 operations have not been carried on. 



The known flora of the Altamaha Grit re- 



gion consists of about 725 native species of 

 flowering plants, 75 weeds, 20 pteridophytes 

 and 60 bryophytes and thallophytes. The 

 lower cryptogams have been little studied. 

 The largest families are Compositas, 100 spe- 

 cies; Cyperaceffi, 83; Graminese, 68; Legu- 

 minosse, 50; Scrophulariacese, 30. 



Some of the commonest species of the re- 

 gion are Pinus palustris, P. Elliottii, P. sero- 

 tina, Taxodium imhricarium, Aristida stricta, 

 Serenoa serrulata, Eriocaulon decaiigidare, 

 Quercus Cateshaei, Eriogonum tomentosum, 

 Magnolia Virginiana, Sarracenia flava, S. 

 minor, Kuhnistera pinnata, Cliftonia mono- 

 phylla, Nyssa hiftora, N. Ogeche, Oxypolis 

 filiformis and Pinchneya pubens. 



The following species are common in the 

 wire-grass country (each being known from 

 at least three counties), but are seemingly 

 confined to Georgia: Sporoholus (a species 

 with terete leaves), Rhynchospora solitaria 

 Harper, Eriocaulon lineare Small, Polygonella 

 Croomii Chapm., Siphonychia pauciflora 

 Small, Viola denticulosa Pollard (with leaves 

 a foot and a half long), Dicerandra odoratis- 

 sima Hari^er, Pentstemon dissectus Ell., Bald- 

 winia atropurpurea Harper, Marshallia ra- 

 mosa Beadle & Boynton and Mesadenia sp. 

 (near lanceolata). 



One of the most interesting features of the 

 pine-barren flora, not generally known to 

 botanists, is that the whole region was sub- 

 merged beneath the sea in Pleistocene times, 

 consequently the species now confined to the 

 pine-barrens (from New Jersey to Texas), 

 perhaps several hundred in number, have 

 probably originated since that time. 



Mr. Harper's remarks were illustrated by 

 many photographs and specimens. The paper 

 was discussed by Drs. Britton and Rusby. 



Mrs. Britton then spoke of certain interest- 

 ing southern 'mosses, especially of Erpodium. 

 a curious genus having the habit of a Frul- 

 lania or Lejeunea. A species of this collected 

 many years ago by Sullivant at Augusta, Ga., 

 was published by Austin as a hepatic under 

 the name Lejeunea hiseriata. Mrs. Britton 

 discussed and exhibited also numerous mosses 

 from the extreme southern part of Florida. 



