Ecology of the Cincinnati Region 
129 
forest is the prevailing type. Were it not for cultivated fields, this type 
of forest would be unbroken except along shallow ravines, or deeper 
valleys, where it gives way to mesophytic or xerophytic woodlands. 
The dominant trees of the upland hydrophytic forest are not every¬ 
where the same, nor is the general appearance of the woods necessarily 
Fig. 10. A beech tree in the pin oak forest; notice that the roots diverge above 
the ground so that the trunk appears to be raised on three props. 
the same. Some woodlands are open and grassy^ and others are dense 
with scant herbaceous vegetation. But they are alike in that- the trees 
of which they are composed are hydrophytes, or largely so. Pin oak 
(Quercus palnstris) is often the dominant tree, and may make almost 
pure stands for several miles, a condition not reported, to my knowledge. 
