PLANTS OF NORTH ELBA 



The following list of the plants of the town of North Elba has been 

 prepared in response to inquiries for a catalogue of the plants of the 

 Adirondacks. It is designed to show approximately what plants have 

 been found growing in a limited but definite typical area of that region 

 and to serve as an aid to botanists who may desire to study the flora of 

 the town and as a guide to stations where specially rare or interesting 

 species may be found. It may also be made the beginning of a list which 

 shall in time be extended till it shall include the names of the plants of 

 the whole region. This region has, within a few years, come into great 

 prominence and is now attracting much attention by reason of its 

 economic and sanitary importance. Its mineral resources were at one 

 time thought to be great, but these sink into insignificance when com- 

 pared to the value now placed upon its forests. The state has awakened 

 to an appreciation of the value of these forests and has taken measures 

 looking toward their preservation and utilization. It would make them 

 not only a permanent possession, but contributors to health, wealth and 

 knowledge. 



The establishment of the Adirondack park and the institution of a 

 college of forestry are evidences of this. But other plants as well as 

 the trees of the forests can teach us lessons of interest and value if we 

 study them rightly. It is our desire that the following plant list with its 

 notes may be of some aid to those who wish so to study them that 

 they may have a better knowledge of the lessons they teach and of their 

 value as parts of the wooded mountainous region where they grow. 



The town of North Elba is in the western part of Essex county north 

 of the center. It is separated from the north line of the county by the 

 narrow northwestern corner town, St Armand. It is situated in one of 

 the most picturesque regions of the Adirondacks and has high mountains 

 on three of its sides. It is about 13.5 miles long and nearly n miles 

 wide, containing in round numbers 148 square miles or about 94.700 

 acres. Its surface is exceedingly diversified by hills, mountains, valleys, 

 plains, fields, forests, lakes and streams. The soil of much of the town 

 is a loam composed largely of sand and gravel which is- easily tillable. 

 On the mountains and their steep slopes it is thin and chiefly humus. 

 The ground in the forest is nearly everywhere covered with a carpet of 



