THE FERN BULLETIN 



Vol. XIII. JANUARY, 1905. No. 1 



LIBRARY 



THE FERN FLORA OF GEORGIA, new YORK 



By Roland M. Harper. BOTANICAL 



GARDEN. 



Georgia is the largest State east of the Mississippi 

 River, its land area being about 59,000 square miles. It 

 ranges through more than four and a half degrees of lati- 

 tude (30 22' to 35 ), and about 5000 feet of altitude. 

 As the highest points happen to be on the extreme north- 

 ern border, and the lowest (the sea-coast) near the south- 

 ern border, this gives the State a wide range of average 

 annual temperature (from about 40 F. on the higher 

 mountains to nearly 70 at the south), said to be a greater 

 climatic range than that of any other eastern State. The 

 average annual rainfall ranges from below 40 inches in 

 some parts of Southeast Georgia to above 70 inches 

 among the mountains of Northeast Georgia. 



The northern half of the State, with its greater amount 

 of shade (due partly to the more rugged topography and 

 partly to the predominance of broad-leaved trees) and 

 more copious rainfall, naturally contains more ferns than 

 the southern half, where conditions less favorable for 

 these plants prevail. As nearly all the limestone outcrops 

 (of whatever age) in Georgia are confined to the western 

 half of the State, we naturally find more ferns there than 

 in the eastern half. (For the same reason Alabama has 

 more ferns than Georgia, and South Carolina fewer.) • 



Georgia contains the greatest possible variety of geo- 

 logical formations, strata of nearly every period of the 

 earth's history being represented. In general the oldest 

 formations are farthest north and highest above sea-level. 

 The natural subdivisions of the State are as follows : 



About 5000 square miles in the northwestern corner are 

 LT&mbraced in the great Appalachian Valley, which extends 

 §|rom Pennsylvania to Alabama. The principal topo- 



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