Ecology of the Cincinnati Region 
183 
Another pre-glacial valley, filled with deposits similar to those of 
upper Mill creek, lies for the most part, north of the area considered. 
It runs from the Little Miami above Kings Mills, past Glenwood, to the 
Miami at Middletown. This valley, whose greatest relief is scarcely 
more than twenty feet (similar in this respect to upper Mill creek valley), 
contains a few forest remnants which indicate the probable previous vege¬ 
tation of Mill creek valley. 
On regions of low relief, is a mixed mesophytic forest composed of 
various oaks (Quercus ruhra, Q. Muhlenhergii, Q. macrocarpa, and 
Q. alba), Kentucky coffee-tree (Gymnocladus dioica), white ash (Fraxi- 
nus americana), and hickory (Carya alba), but containing no beech, and 
only an occasional sugar maple. Although the relief is very slight, the 
forest is less mesophytic than that of steeper slopes elsewhere, for the 
soil is gravelly. Verbena stricta, which is so characteristic of gravel ter¬ 
races, is not uncommon. 
Hydrophytic associations of this valley belong to two opposing types, 
those of half-drained and those of undrained situations—depressions and 
flats removed from streams (Cowles, 1901). 
Depressions contain swamp white oak (Quereus bieolor), white oak 
(Quercus alba), pin oak (Quercus palustris), and red maple (Acer 
rubrum). 
Half-drained swampy areas are not met with elsewhere in the region 
except along the margins of some streams, and in very limited areas 
around springs or on springy slopes. In the vicinity of Glenwood, how¬ 
ever, are extensive flats through which small sluggish streams wander in 
beds from one to three feet below the general level (dg. 42 ). The area 
occupied by the swamp is not a flood plain, yet the plant associations are 
much like some of those of flood plains. The forests are dominated by 
silver maple (Acer saccharinum), with an occasional sycamore (Platanus 
occidentalis) near the stream, and a few trees of black ash (Fraxinus 
nigra), and swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor). 
Clearings, and openings in this forest, support a luxuriant herbaceous 
vegetation, different, however, from that of undrained depressions and 
wet upland flats. There are but few plants of button-bush (Cephalanthus 
occidentalis) —a character plant of undrained situations. On the other 
hand, Bidens laevis, Eupatorium perfoliatum and Verbena hastata —all 
typical brookside plants— Iris versicolor. Hibiscus Moscheutos, Physos- 
