PLANTS OF WESTERN LAKE ERIE. 
61 
PLANT GROUPS. 
The plants of this region may he roughly divided into swamp plants and water 
plants, the latter being such as are wholly submersed or have only their reproductive 
and small portions of their vegetative parts above water, or which float wholly or in 
part on the surface. The regions occupied by these forms can not be sharply 
delimited, because true water plants grow between the swamp plants throughout the 
greater part of the marsh. To these two groups must be added a few shore plants 
that affect, though perhaps to an insignificant degree, the vegetable matter in the 
lake. The shore line in this region is either sand or limestone, and the characteristic 
plants are such as are commonly found in similar locations. Euphorbia p>olygoni- 
folia , Triodia purpurea , El/yrrms canadensis , Cenchrus tribuloides , Salix longifoUa 
and 8. cordata , Cakile esculenta , and Polanisia gra/veolens grow on the sandy beach 
(pi. 11, fig. 2). This vegetation has, however, no influence on the biology of the lake 
other than an occasional accidental one, such as the washing into the lake, by a storm, 
of parts of these plants. The same is true of the rock plants, although being almost 
constantly subject to wave action they are more frequently washed into the lake. 
Along a great deal of the shore of South Bass Island, as well as on the other islands of 
the group, the broken limestone rock is washed by the waves, and in the crevices of 
this rock a multitude of plants find a footing. The principal species in bloom during 
J idy and August were Campanula rotundifolia , Steironema ciliata , Aster ericoides 
and A. pobyphyllus , Carex eburnea , and Lobelia kal/mii. The rocks were nearly 
covered with lichens and a reddish alga. The unicellular algae, which flourish in the 
many small pools among the rocks, are constantly washed out by the waves (pi. 12, 
fig. 1). 
DESCRIPTION OF PRINCIPAL PLANT REGIONS. 
Plants in Put-in Bay. — The plants in this bay were studied more thoroughly 
than elsewhere, owing to accessibility. Careful dredgings were made throughout 
the western part of the bay, including Squaw Harbor and the vicinity of the hatchery. 
Squaw Harbor is a shallow body of water averaging about 1 feet in depth and not 
exceeding 7 feet in the deepest part, with a rocky border which prevents a swamp for- 
mation of any extent (pi. 11, fig. 5). The mud bottom slopes gradually and is covered 
with a dense mass of vegetation. From the entrance of Squaw Harbor to the end of 
Gibraltar Island the water becomes gradually deeper, but does not exceed a depth of 
15 feet, and reaches that depth only near the end of Gibraltar Island. The bottom 
changes as gradually from mud to clay, with some sand and gravel along the shore. 
A bar separates Squaw Harbor from Hatchery Bay, 1 which is also shallow, 
nowhere over 11 feet deep and averaging perhaps 5 feet. The bottom of this bay 
varies much, being stony in some places and muddy in others. The water is turbid, 
and it is usually impossible to see plants more than 2 or 3 feet below the surface. 
Plants in 'Squaw Harbor . — Squaw Harbor is bordered by a narrow strip of 
rush like plants. These plants are limited abruptly on the land side by the rocks 
and on the other side by a depth of from 2 to 2.5 feet of water. Toward the east 
Sagittaria rigida forms a prominent group, extending about 30 feet from the shore 
and finding its limit of depth in about 2.5 feet of water. Looking over the plants 
1 For convenience I have applied this name to that part of Put-in Bay lying between Gibraltar Bar and the United 
States fish-hatchery. It opens by a ship channel directly into the lake. 
