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THE PLANT WORLD. 
THE PLANT FORMATIONS OF THE CATSKILLS. 
By Professor John W. Harshberger, 
University of Pennsylvania. 
Little has been published on the flora of the Catskill mountains. 
The three papers* on the vegetation of these mountains are 
merely annotated lists of the trees, shrubs, ferns and mosses: 
Presumably collections of plants have been made, but no account 
of the plant formations has appeared. 
According to the observations of the writer, there are some 
seven plant formations displayed in the Catskills. They may be 
enumerated as follows: deciduous forest formation, coniferous 
forest formations (three in number), rocky ledge plant forma¬ 
tion, and lake and marsh plant formations. 
Deciduous Forest Formation. The valleys and mountains, 
except the summits of the highest peaks, are covered to a height 
of about 3,500 feet, with a deciduous forest. It is a mixed for¬ 
est consisting of such dominant trees as: Fagus americana 
(beech) ; Castanea dentata (chestnut) ; Quercus rubra (oak) ; 
Juglans cinerea, J. nigra (walnut sparingly present) ; Betula 
lutea, B. lenta, B. populifolia, B. papyrifera (birches, uncom¬ 
mon) ; Acer saccharum (==A. saccharinum ), A. rubrum 
(maple) ; Populus tremuloides, P. grandidentata (poplar) ; Ulmus 
americana (elm) ; Prunits virginiana (choke-cherry, rare) ; 
Tilia americana (linden) ; Tsuga canadensis (hemlock) ; Pinus 
strobus (pine); Hicoria glabra (= Cary a porcina), H. ovata 
(hickory). Near the streams in this forest are found Platanus 
occidentalis (sycamore) ; Carpinus caroliniana (hornbeam), and 
such shrubs, as Alnus serrulata (alder) ; Hamamelis virginiana 
* The only papers on the Catskill flora according to Dr. John H. Barn¬ 
hart of the New York Botanical Garden are: Hall, J. K., Catskill Ferns, 
Bulletin Torrey Botanical Club, 38: 39, 1874; Mearns, E. A., A List of 
Trees and Shrubs collected [in the Catskills]. Proceedings U. S. Na¬ 
tional Museum, 21: 343, 1898; Britton, E. G., Mosses. of the Catskills, 
Torreya, 1: 84, 1901. 
