Ecology of the Cincinnati Region 
137 
ash are found, but beech forms about ninety-five per cent of the tree 
growth. Of the saplings, sometimes fifty per cent are sugar maple; beech 
is next in abundance, and white ash, hickory, and wild cherry are found. 
The large percentage of sugar maple among the saplings does not neces¬ 
sarily indicate that it will become an important species in the succeeding 
forest, as the mortality among the smaller trees is higher in this species 
than in beech. 
Herbaceous plants are not common in these beech forests. The 
vernal vegetation is composed chiefly of spring beauty (Claytonia virgin- 
ica), toothwort (Dentaria laciniata), waterleaf (Hydrophylliim appendicu- 
latuni), and May apple (Podophyllum peltatum). The aestival vegeta¬ 
tion is very scanty, and the most common plant is beech-drops (Epifagus 
virginiana). Spikenard (Aralia raccmosa), white snakeroot (Eupatori- 
iim urticaefolium), spleenwort (Asplenium angustifolium), and young 
plants of Hydrophyllum make occasional patches of green. 
Wet places still remain in most of the upland mesophytic forests. 
Here are found a few swamp trees, usually sour gum, but sometimes pin 
oak or red maple; and the herbaceous vegetation is similar to that of the 
hydrophytic forests. 
5. The pre-erosion climax forest. 
This climax forest is but temporary. As long as the topography 
changes but slightly, the beech forest remains unchanged. But it can be 
no more lasting than the topographic form upon which it is found. This 
climax forest is one developed on a topography little modified by erosional 
changes. It is found in but one other situation — filled valleys — and 
there also upon a youthful topography. In contrast to the truer -climax 
of the region, it will be termed the pre-erosion climax. It is best devel¬ 
oped on the youthful topography of the Illinoian drift area, but it is also 
found upon the pre-erosion topography of the uplands covered with Wis¬ 
consin drift. 
6. ^lORAINAL belt. 
Although no distinct terminal moraine marks the most southerly 
position reached by the Earlier Wisconsin ice sheet, the topography in 
this morainal belt is decidedly more varied than that to the south. The 
character of the vegetation of the two drifts is often different, even on 
the flatter parts, where both successions are progressing from.the hydro¬ 
phytic to the mesophytic. In portions of the morainal belt, a xerarch 
succession is in progress. The conditions imposed here were never ex- 
