10 



Introduction 



Plateau and the Costal Plains, the difference in the flora of 

 these regions is very striking. The limestone hills and rocky 

 hillsides naturally support drought-loving plants and types with 

 roots that can live in chalk or gain support in the thin residual 

 layer covering the underlying limestone. Chief among the larger 

 woody-stemmed plants and growing close together in dense motts 

 are the blue-fruited, bushy mountain cedars (Sabina sabinoides), 

 mountain laurel, wide-spreading, evergreen sumacs, stunted live 

 and post oaks, Mexican persimmons with pale, smooth stems, and 

 lance-leaved sumacs that furnish half of our Autumn 's reds. 



Growing on these same rock-strewn hills and hillsides, too, 

 one finds a characteristic vegetation conspicuous for variety and 

 depth of color. Early spring is announced by the bold redbud of 

 the hillsides and the dainty violet hidden in the damp bottoms. 

 Then follows a succession of blossoms, chief among which are 

 slender-stemmed yellow daisies, Indian Paint Brush, yellow and 

 purple-flowered buckeyes, shining buttercups, dainty pink 

 pennyroyal clinging in the rocks, shrubby, purple skullcaps of 

 the roadside, red-rooted New Jersey Tea, beardstongue, Heller's 

 plantain, black haw, slender bear grass, the deep and variable 

 shell pink melon-cactus, and yellow and orange flowering prickly 

 pears. Brightening and livening the ledges of the bare rocks 

 are the orange-yellow western wall flower and the scarlet salvia 

 with roots buried in rocks and rich soil. The back grounds for 

 much of this rich flowering is the drought enduring, glossy 

 leaved cliff brakes, Pellea atropurpurea, Pellaea flexulosa, and 

 Anemia mexicana. 



Winding around these hills, very often are stony bottomed, 

 dry creek beds with their groups of moisture loving plants, — 

 scraggly sycamores, stubby growths of the Mexican walnut, 

 slender stemmed, bushy, willow-leaved groundsel, and the frag- 

 rant flowered buttonbush. 



In early summer, notwithstanding the intense heat and 

 burning sun, one finds roadsides and pastures vivid with colors 

 that even a tropical sun cannot fade. Here appear the purple 

 seullcaps, Heller's Plantain, white rock daisies, golden asters, 



