Ratibida pinnata, a conspicuous element of our prairie areas, was recently found by the authors in York County, South Carolina. The location, 5 miles wsw of Rock Hill, extends the range northward from Alabama and Georgia where it occurs on Black Belt and other calcareous soils.
This little book, a companion volume to the work by K. Faegri and the present author, “Principles of pollination ecology”, is the first important publication on plant dispersal since the appearance of Ridley’s monumental work, “The dispersal of plants throughout the world”‘, back in 1930.
After having examined a number of herbarium specimens of Linum from eastern North America (Fig. 1), I became curious about the distribution of collectors and collections through the nearly 150 years during which this material had accumulated.
Four species recognized as occurring in the southeastern United States are: Luzula bulbosa (Wood) Rydb., L. echinata (Small) Hermann, L. multiflora (Retz.) Lej. and L. acuminata Raf. var. acuminata and var. carolinae (S. Wats.) Fern. Pertinent systematic data are offered for these species.
Enroute for botanical work on the old collecting grounds of John Clayton at Dragon Run, we came upon a region of white sand and natural ponds in Caroline County with many rare and local species. These plants provide valuable clues to the vegetational history of Virginia. We did not rearch Dragon Run that day.
Parental and hybrid populations of Vernonia crinita Raf. and V. baidwini Torr. var. baidwini were studied in the Ozark area of Arkansas and Missouri. Population samples of the “pure” parental types were compared with three hybrid population samples by means of scatter diagrams and histograms. These two species are normally isolated by ecological and seasonal reproductive barriers which have broken down in the Ozark region and resulted in extensive hybridization between these two taxa.
A small relict stand of Elliottia racemosa Muhl. was found on a north-facing outcrop of sandstone along West Fork of Deep Creek in Turner County, Georgia. Presumably this is the first report of an occurrence of this unitypic genus of Ericaceae on a rock outcrop. The rarity of this taxon and its presence in an extremely xeric habitat is of great phytogeographic interest.
The Piedmont of North Carolina is geologically diverse and is a complex area vegetationally and pedologically. Relatively few papers have dealt with upland hardwood forests, the “climax” vegetation of this area. Oosting’s study (1942) of upland hardwoods has been the major vegetation study for the area, but it was geographically restricted and did not include many soils and parent materials found in the area. The Coastal Plain contrasts with the Piedmont vegetationally, pedologically and geologically. Originally, its sandy soils supported longleaf pine forest on all upland sites (Ashe, 1897). There is overwhelming evidence, however, that this longleaf forest was a fire sub-climax and that, in the absence of fire, these upland sites would eventually have supported hardwood forests as a result of succession (Garren, 1943).
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal extends 1841/2 miles along the valley of the Potomac River from Georgetown, in Washington, D. C., to Cumberland, Maryland. Built between 1828 and 1850 to facilitate commerce with the west, the Canal became unprofitable to operate and was abandoned about 1924. Now, in modern times, the canal and its towpath afford access to the Potomac Valley for residents of the Washington area. Throngs of hikers and canoeists are to be seen on any pleasant weekend. Potential recreational value of the canal must far exceed the commercial value of the products it carred in the 1800’s.