Contributions of the Barrens Symposium

“Barrens” was a physiognomic term used by land surveyors and others during settlement to refer to areas which were relatively “bare” of the tree growth form. For example, serpentine “barrens” in Maryland and Pennsylvania were “extensive treeless spaces in the wilderness,” “bare of timber,” “. . . a Vast Body of Barrens … what is called so, because there is no wood upon it,” and “… a Range of barren dry land without Timber about nine miles wide” (Marye, W.B. 1955. The great Maryland barrens: I, II, and III. Maryland Hist. Mag. 50:11-23, 120-142, 234-253). As with other physiognomic terms such as forest, application of the term “barrens” was not restricted to a particular flora or type of substrate. As a result, “barrens” collectively encompassed a variety of substrate types (e.g., chert, shale, limestone, sandstone, siltstone, gravel) and areas which differed substantially in plant species composition.