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VOL. XXXVII SEPTEMBER, 1936 No. 441 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN THE JUNGLES OF MANHATTAN ISLAND—I JOHN K. SMALL SEED REPRODUCTION OF SHORTIA GALACIFOLIA MALCOLM N. Ross MARIGOLD WILT B. O. DODGE SCREWPINES FROM MADAGASCAR BEARING FRUIT P. J. MCKENNA AUTUMN LECTURES AT THE GARDEN COURSES OF STUDY FOR 1936-37 A GLANCE AT CURRENT LITERATURE CAROL H. WOODWARD NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS THE LIVING GARDEN CAROL H. WOODWARD A FOUR-LANGUAGE DICTIONARY J. H. BARNHART TWO BOOKS FOR MYCOLOGISTS F. J. SEAVER PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BRONX PARK, NEW YORK, N. Y. (FORDHAM BRANCH POST OFFICE) Entered at the Post Office in New York, N. Y., as Becoiid-class matter. Annual subscription $1.00 Single copies 10 cents Free to members of the Garden THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF MANAGERS I. ELECTIVE MANAGERS Until 1937: HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN (Vice-president), CHILDS FRICK, ADOLPH LEWISOHN, HENRY LOCKHART, JR., D. T. MACDOUGAL, and JOSEPH R. SWAN. Until 1938: L. H. BAILEY, MARSHALL FIELD, MRS. ELON HUNTINGTON HOOKER, JOHN L. MERRILL (Vice-president and Treasurer), COL. ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY, H. HOBART PORTER, and RAYMOND H. TORREY. Until 1939: ARTHUR M. ANDERSON, HENRY W. DE FOREST (President), MARSHALL A. HOWE (Secretary), CLARENCE LEWIS, E. D. MERRILL, HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE (Assistant Treasurer), and LEWIS RUTHERFURD MORRIS. II. EX-OFFICIO MANAGERS FIORELLO H. LAGUARDIA, Mayor of the City of New York. ROBERT MOSES, Park Commissioner. GEORGE J. RYAN, President of the Board of Education. III. APPOINTIVE MANAGERS TRACY E. HAZEN, appointed by the Torrey Botanical Club. R. A. HARPER, SAM F. TRELEASE, EDMUND W. SINNOTT, and MARSTON T. BOGERT, appointed by Columbia University. GARDEN STAFF MARSHALL A. HOWE, PH. D., SC. D Director H. A. GLEASON, PH. D Deputy Director and Head Curator HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE Assistant Director JOHN K. SMALL, PH. D., SC. D Chief Research Associate and Curator A. B. STOUT, PH. D Director of the Laboratories FRED J. SEAVER, PH. D., SC. D Curator BERNARD O. DODGE, PH. D Plant Pathologist FORMAN T. MCLEAN, M. F., PH. D Supervisor of Public Education JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D Bibliographer and Admin. Assistant PERCY WILSON Associate Curator ALBERT C. SMITH, PH. D Associate Curator SARAH H. HARLOW, A. M Librarian H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections FLEDA GRIFFITH Artist and Photographer ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Research Associate in Bryology E. J. ALEXANDER Assistant Curator and Curator of the Local Herbarium HAROLD N. MOLDENKE, PH. D Assistant Curator W. H. CAMP, PH. D Assistant Curator CLYDE CHANDLER, A. M Technical Assistant ROSALIE WEIKERT Technical Assistant CAROL H. WOODWARD, A. B Editorial Assistant THOMAS H. EVERETT, N. D. HORT Horticulturist G. L. WITTROCK, A. M Docent OTTO DEGENER, M. S. Collaborator in Hawaiian Botany ROBERT HAGELSTEIN Honorary Curator of Myxomycetes ETHEL ANSON S. PECKHAM..Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections WALTER S. GROESBECK Clerk and Accountant ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds A. C PFANDER Assistant Superintendent JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN VOL. XXXVII SEPTEMBER, 1936 No. 441 THE JUNGLES OF MANHATTAN ISLAND—I SHRUBS AND TREES OF FORT WASHINGTON PARK The latest catastrophe has depopulated Manhattan Island of its native vegetation almost as completely as did the glaciers during the Ice Ages when they held boreal and temperate North America (as now understood) in their frigid grip. This catastrophe is nothing less than human occupation. Its progress has been slow but sure, so that today only about 200 acres of native vegetation out of the total of 14,200 acres remain reasonably intact; thus 14,000 acres of Manhattan Island have been despoiled of their native vegetation, both woody and herbaceous. It is true the 42 parks of Manhattan, with their more than 2,100 acres, are largely populated with plants, but their floristics are mostly or totally of an exotic complexion. Whatever may have been the soil-superstructure of the rock- foundation of Manhattan Island before the glaciers advanced, the ice pushed it from the rocks. Whatever soil-superstructure the retreating glaciers deposited on the rock foundation, erosion by wind and water naturally depleted to a great extent before man's advent on the island. The vegetation that clothed the island when the white man took charge of its destinies shortly after the year 1600, therefore had rather poor pickings for anchorage and sus­ tenance, as compared with the rich soil we know in some of the surrounding flat country. Fort Washington Park is in the process of an evolution. This has been going on since it was first occupied by the white man many years ago. Its area does not represent an integral formation as does its sister, Inwood Hill Park, lying just to the north. It is a slice, so to speak, of a ridge of rock running north and south, cut off from the higher part of the ridge by Riverside Drive. It lies parallel and close to the Hudson River. Little of it, however, 201 202 is visible from the Drive, for a large part of it falls off as a steep slope from the outer edge of the highway. In fact, about one half of the park area stands more or less perpendicular, while the other half lies more or less horizontal. During the ages since the glaciers deposited exotic soil on the area most of this has naturally been washed down and out into the Hudson River where it lies at the bottom of the deep gorge through which the river flows, or in the bay or spread out on the nearby ocean bottom. However, sufficient soil has clung to the rocky teeth of the steep slopes or cliffs and remained in place at the bottom of the slopes to support a generous growth of shrubs and trees. Deducting the amount of land represented in improve­ ments, we are safe in assuming that about 100 acres of the park remain in their native condition. Fort Washington Park as limited by municipal park planning has only one exposure. It faces the west, and gets very little direct sun until toward noon. This condition is reflected in the number of native trees and shrubs as compared with the total (to be published later) growing in nearby Inwood Hill, which has exposures represented by every point of the compass. On pages 204-5 is a list of the trees and shrubs now growing naturally in the park, that may be observed from the trails. Of definite interest now, this list will become of increasing interest as time goes on, for a century or five centuries hence the vegetation of the park may be materially changed. The peculiar situation of Fort Washington Park results in a very luxuriant growth of shrubs and trees. The highest natural altitude in Manhattan is in Fort Tryon Park near old Fort Washington. The newer park overlooks Fort Washington Park, rising between one and two hundred feet above it. The natural drainage of the western side of Fort Tryon Park, the seepage of moisture over and through the rock structure, feeds the vegetation of Fort Washington Park. The healthy color and luster of the many native oaks1, ashes, birches, maples, sassafras, tulip-trees, and hickories speak well for this natural supply of moisture. The exotics, such as the Osage-orange, rowan-tree, locust, tree-of- heaven, glossy linden, and catalpa likewise thrive there peculiarly well. 1 The botanical names of the shrubs and trees mentioned in the following notes are affixed to the popular names in the lists on pages 204-5. 203 FIGURE 1. Trail in Ft. Washington Park, Manhattan, lined with shrub­ bery. The New York tower of the George Washington bridge shows in the distance. The oaks, seven kinds in all, form the outstanding vegetation on account of the number of trees and masses of smooth and glossy foliage, especially that of the red and the black oaks. The three hickories fill in many gaps with their deep-green compound leaves. The two elms lack the rigid branching of the oaks and the hickories, the more or less drooping branches bearing the dull rough-surfaced leaves. 204 TREES AND SHRUBS GROWING IN FORT WASHINGTON PARK NATIVE NATURALIZED Pitch-pine- -Pinus rigida Black pine—Pinus nigra Hemlock—Tsuga canadensis Greenbrier—Smilax glauca Catbrier—Smilax rotundifolia Cottonwood—Populus deltoides White poplar—Popidus alba . Large-toothed aspen—Popidiis grandidentata Quiver-leaf—Popidus tremuloides Diamond willow—Salix cordata Weeping willow—Salix babylonica Hazelnut—Corylus maxima Bayberry—Cerothamnus carolinianuni Black walnut—Wallia nigra Bitter-nut—Hicoria cordiformis Mocker-nut—-Hicoria alba Pignut—Hicoria glabra Ironwood—Ostrya virginiana White birch—Betida populifolia Black birch—Betida lenta Smooth alder—Alnus rugosa Beech—Fagus grandijolia Red oak—Quercus maxima Pin oak—Quercus palustris Black oak—Quercus velutina Gray oak—Quercus borealis Scarlet oak—Quercus coccinea Chestnut oak—Quercus montana White oak—Quercus alba American elm—Ulmus americana Slippery elm—Ulmus fulva Camperdown elm—Ulmus glabra Hackberry—Celtis occidentalis Mulberry—Mortis rubra White mulberry—Morus alba Osage-orange—Toxylon pomifcrum Tulip-tree—Liriodendron Tulipijera Thunberg's barberry—Berberis Thunbergii M ocko range—Ph iladelphus coronarius Witch-hazel—Hamamelis virginiana Sweet-gum—Liquidambar Styraciflua Syringa—Philadelphus grandiftorus Blackberry—Rubus ostryifolius Island blackberry—Rubus rhodin- sulanus Mountain blackberry—Rubus allegheniensis Dewberry—Rubus fiagellaris Southern dewberry—Rubus E>islenii Black raspberry—Rubus occidentalis Hedge rose—Rosa multiflora Rowan-tree—Sorbus Aucuparia Pear—Pyrus communis Apple—Malus Malus 205 Haw—Crataegus pedicellata Wild cherry—Padus virginiana Choke cherry—Padus nana Sour cherry—Prunus Cerasus Pin cherry—Prunus pennsylvanica Plum—Prunus domestica Peach—Amygdahts Persica Locust—Robinia Pseudacacia Tree-of-Heaven—Ailanthus altissima Dwarf sumac—Rhus copallina Staghorn sumac—Rhus hirta Smooth sumac—Rhus glabra Poison-ivy—Toxicodendron radicans Asiatic bitter-sweet—Celastrus articttlatus Red niap'.e—Rufacer rubrum Sugar maple—Saccharodendron barbatum Horsechestnut—Acscuiu.

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