Ecology of the Cincinnati Region 
185 
and topography, they are related to these. In situation within an old 
filled valley, they are a part of the latter. Their vegetational features are 
to some extent a combination of those of both areas. Their slopes are 
always very gentle (3 to 8 degrees), their tops broad and rounded. 
Fig. 43. Near view in the same swamp, showing Hibiscus Moschcufos and Scirpus 
atrovirens. 
The forests of this area are mesophytic, and for the area as a whole, 
beech is the dominant tree. There is, however a larger admixture of oaks 
than in the forests of the Norwood trough; indeed, the forests are less 
mesophytic than those of the latter area. Beech occupies the tops and 
the longest and gentlest slopes of the hills and much of the space between 
the hills. With the beech on the tops of the hills, are other trees, the 
most important of which are sugar maple (Acer sacchanim), big shell- 
bark hickory (Carya laciniosa), white oak (Qucrciis alba), and red oak 
(Querciis rubra). On steeper slopes, beech is absent, and then the above- 
mentioned trees are relatively more abundant. On the flats between the 
hills, the hickories (Carya ovata, C. alba, and C. cordiformis), bur oak 
