Lecture: A Trip to The Ozark Mountains: 1927

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Consequently I had ample opportunity to explore the Moutains and learn something of their flora and to compare it with the higher mountains farther east. Of course one cannot expect to find in Mountains of the elevation of the Ozarks, which are not common, but all too common in the higher eastern mountains. For instance one does not find in the Ozarks the Greal Laurel, or Mountain Laurel, or Rosebay (R. maximum) with its rose-colored bell shaped flowers which are tinged with orange or yellow, nor does he find the Carolina or Catawba Rho dodendron, ( R. catawbiense) with its lilac purple flowers; nor does he find the Calico Bush, or, as the Mountaineers call it, " the Ivy," with its flowers varying from pink to white, and which with the Great Laurel, forms dense, impenetrable thicket-like masses along high mountain gorges, but one does find in the Ozarks a number of plants which are common as well to the lower ans to the higher mountain ranges of the Eastern and Southeastern United States.

I found in all a goodlt number of herbs, shrubs and trees with which I was well acquainted. Some were new to me. One of the commonest plants in the Ozarks was " The Sweet Horse Mint ", or American Dittany (Cunila origanoides. A member of the Mint family, or Labiatae, it well deserves the name of " Sweet Horse Mint ", for every part of the Plant is pleasant and aromatic. Growing, as it usually does, in dry, open woods, it bears purplish-pink flowers, and is, in every respect, a fine, typical, representative mountain plant.

When I first saw it it seemed quite familiar to me, but it was sometime before I could recall its name, for it had been 31 years since I had collected it for the first and only time on the high mountins of East Tennessee when it grew at an elevation of over 5000 feet. This sweet Horse Mint can be easily cultivated, and for that reason it is sometimes found in the wild-flower gardens of those who have permanent summer residences in the Ozarks.

A shrub which was not very common, in fact it is rare west of the Alleghanies was Squaw Huckleberry, or Deer Berry (Polycodium staminium) a member of the Vacciniaceae or Huckleberry Family. Its berries, unlike the berries of the other members of the Huckleberry family, are not edible, for they are bitter, unpalatable and somewhat astringent. An eminent botanist describing this shrub has characterized the taste of the berries as "mawkish". A shrub, some 2 1/2 feet high, it bears dull yellow or purplish flowers, but its whitish or dark purple pear-shaped berries, as they hang drooping gracefully on their pedicels, make this bush an attractive feature of the surrounding woods. It is called " the Deer Berry " because years ago, when deer abounded in the Alleghanies, the Squaw Huckleberry formed a favorite food of the Mountain Deer.

Preferring, as it seems to prefer, open sunny places instead of the deep woods one frequently finds in the Ozarks, " The Great Ironweed, " or Arkansas Ironweed (Veronica arkansana). This is a plant that has a somewhat limited range for it is found from Missouri to Texas only. In the botanies it is stated that it grows on prairies and along streams. While I found it frequently along Mountain roads I found it once only in the vicinity of any stream. A plant some 10 or 12 feet high, it is one of the most conspicuous of the Ozark autumn flowers and the more so as its short, hemispherical, stout penduncled heads of reddish purple flowers are subtended by greenish or reddish bracts - a combination of colors which makes the inflorescence both pleasing and attractive.

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While the Ironweed will ever be regarded by the majority of people as a weed, fit only to be cut down and destroyed, to the lover of flowers it is ever a handsome plant. It is called the Iron Weed because its stem is hard, tough and somewhat rigid. It is a plant that hybridizes quite freely. Of the three specimens I have here one is a typical Ark., Ironweed; the other two are hybrids - one a hybrid of it and DRUMMOND's Ironweed ( V.drummondii); the other of it and Baldwin's Ironweed (V. baldwinii). This latter Ironweed is quite common in this part of Texaas.

Another plant which was quite common in the Ozarks and was just coming into flower was the Purple Aster, or Purple Daisy (Aster patens). In England the Asters flower about the same time as they do here, i,e, in the late summer and all along thru the autumn, for some time, in fact, after Michaelmas Day, which is Sept. 29th. The Asters are accordingly known in England as Michaelmas, or Christmas, Daisies. This late purple aster is a plant that has a wide range for you can collect it in the fall of the year from Mass. to northern New York, and as far west as Minn. and as far South as Fla., La., and Texas. It is a plant, which when in flower is quite prominent wherever it grows, for while most of the Asters grow in clusters, clumps, patches and even sometimes covers a large space of ground to the exclusion of all other plants, this Aster grows singly or by 2's and 3's. The flowers are remarkably large for an Aster, the rays are of a purplish blue, or deep violet hue, while the leaves clasp the stem by an ear-shaped or auriculate base - these characteristics make this plant a worthy Ozark represenatative of the Great Aster Family. To show to some extent, how wide the range of this Aster is, of the two specimens which I have here, one was collected in 1895 on the High Mountains of East Tennessee at a place called Higdon; the other was collected in 1912 on the border of a woods in Tarrant County Texas, 2 miles east of Polytechnic.

One day while walking thru the Mountain Gorge and along the Frisco Railroad, I saw one of the finest exhibitions and displays of floral wealth that I had seen up to that time in the Ozarks. On a high bank which was within the right-of-way of the R.R. there were 2 or 3 large clumps of the Blazing Star, or Large Button Snake-root. The particular plant which I saw is classified in the botanies as Lacinaniea scariosa. The word, Lacinaria, means rent or torn, botanically it means divided into thread-like segments or divisions, in a word, fringed, and was adopted in place of Liatris only a few years ago, not on the ground of priority, but for the same reason it was adopted in 1795, because the heads of the flowers are handsomely fringed or fimbriate.

These Ozark Blazing Stars, or large Button Snake-roots were from i-6 feet in height; the long flowering stems were thickly covered with rosepurple flowers. It was a glorious sight, and in fact there is not a single one of the nearly 30 known species of Lacinaria, that when the plant is in full flower, will not challenge your wonder and admiration. The root of the plant is a globular tuber, which resembles a large button. As this tuber was at one time regarded as efficacious in the case of the bite of a Rattlesnake the plant has received the popular name of the Large Button-Snake-root. This tuber becomes so exceedingly hard, when dry, that it is with difficulty that it can be reduced to a size sufficiently small to allow both it as well as the rest of the plant to be placed on a sheet of mounting paper.

Before I say anything in a special way as to Orchids in the Ozarks, permit me to say something of Orchids in a general way. There are few more beautiful flowers than the Orchid. Not only to the lover of flowers

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but to the devotees of fashion it is the flower of all flowers, the very acme of floral perfection. It has been called the Princess of Flowers, and popular opinion ranks it at the head of the floral aristocracy. A certain florist has been quoted as saying that the orchid occupies the same rank in the cut-flower world as the diamond in the wworld of precious stones.

Among the elite of our large cities the favorite Orchid for festal occasions is the white Cattleya, a native of Tropical America, growing from Mexico as far south as Brazil. It is cultivated by both florists and Orchid growers, and ranks as the largest and the handsomest of all known Orchids. By these same florists and Orchid growers it is sold for fabulous prices. The Orchid is a flower that assumes a variety of irregular, fantastic and grotesque forms. There is an orchid that resembles a brilliant little humming bird. There is an Orchid that resembles a beautiful Moth with expanded wings - resembles it even to rings, spots and markings on the insect's wings. There is a famous Central American Orchid which resembles the head of a Bord of Paradise. There is an Orchid called the Butterfly Orchid (Orcidium papillio), which resembles a gaudy butterfly with outstretched wings. But perhaps the most curious and unique of all known Orchids is that which is called the Holy Spirit, or the Dove Plant. This Orchid is also a native of Central America. It grows from 4 to 5 feet in height. Its flowers are globular, white and very fragrant. The two stamens and the pistil unite to form what is called the [...] of the flower. The flower itself forms a spherical case of alabaster whiteness within which is enclosed a delicate little bird with expanded wings - a bird with the form of a dove and of the form which artists adopt in typifying the Holy Spirit. The Spanish Americans regard this Orchid with peculiar veneration, and employ it profusely in their religious festivals. They call El Spirito Santo, the Holy Spirit. It has been cultivated, but it loses much of its sixe and vigor outside of its native land.

There is one of our native Orchids which resembles a ram's horned head. There is a whole genus of Orchids, including nearly 40 species, the flowers of which resemble a Lady's slipper, and hence the Orchid is called a Cypupedium, or Lady's Slipper (or Slipper of Venus.)

The Orchid, although a beautiful flower, has but little if any economic value. There is in fact only one known Orchid that has any economic value, the Vanilla Orchid, from the bean of which the vanilla of commerce is obtained. The soil of the Ozarks being composed largely of decaying and decayed vegetation, was so favorable to the growth of Orchids that it seems as if one might resonably expect to find at least three or four of our native Orchids in the mountains, but I found one species only, " The Slender Ladies Tresses " (Gyrostachy gracilis). This Orchid grows about 18 inches in height, sending up from the ground a tall scape which bears several pure white flowers of a waxy appearance. As these flowers are spirally twisted around the scapethe Orchid has received the popular name of " Ladies Tresses". In the Ozarks this Orchid usually grows ingrassy places on the Mountain side, and as the pure white flowers appeared here and there overtopping the grass, it was much more handsome than as a mounted specimen, for as everyone knows the drying and pressing of a plant destroys not only the delicate structure of the flowers, but also much of its natural and inherent beauty.

In a wide and deep ravine in the Mountains where the trees were so closely crowded together that even at mid-day a semi-darkness pervaded the place

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there grew several interesting plants, one of which is known by the popular name of the East India Basil (Perilla frutescens). This plant was a long distance from its home in the Orient, for it is a native of China, Japan, and the scattered portions of Eastern Asia. Many years ago this plant was introduced into theis country by both florists and gardeners to be used as a decorative border for flower beds, which purpose, on account of its large leaves, which are of a deep purple or violet color, it is well adapted. In the fall of the year it may be seen in the woods by the wayside from the D.C. southward. A plant that fruits abundantly, the seeds have either been scattered or washed down from higher to lower situations, and so in time it has become naturalized and well established, and so wherever it is found today, it is regarded as a wild plant. There is a closely related species of this Perilla of ours, in fact is may be regarded as the same plant growing under different conditions, which grows in China near the city of Nanking, and is hence called Perilla nankinensis. The leaves of this plant are of such a deep flesh color that it has received the popular name of " Beek Steak " Plant.

There was in the Ozarks a wide mountain stream, a tributary of the White River of Arkansas which had received the local, popular, cacoponous name of "Slicker Creek." The bed of this stream is of solid rock, and this rock formation extends for some yards from the stream until it becomes merged in the rocks of the mountain itself. From the copious deposit of a slipery, or slimy substance upon these rocks, they are exceedingly treacherous. Many are the falls that have been experienced upon these rocks by the unwary, by those who have failed to heed the apostolic admonition: " Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." All along this stream there grew plants that you will find in the woods along streams and on the plains and prairies of Texas. There was one of these plants which, altho it is said to range from Iowa to Nebraska and Ark., yet it seemed to be a typical Ozark Mountain plant. It is called after the collector, Pitcher (Pitctoris Gaura-Gaura pitcherii. Though an herb, it was shrub-like in appearance, not only on account of its size but also because the stems or branches were much more woody than is usually the case with an herb. The branches of this plant were thickly covered with flowers of a bright pink color.

I tried to find as many species as possible of the graceful Polypodiaceae or Fern Family. But though I searched every cranny, crevice, and corber of the Mountains wherever I went; although I wnet doen into ravines and climbed the Mountain side and neglected not to examine every spot no matter how arid or dry it might be, or verdant, from the little stream that trickled down the Mountain side, I found six species only of the Fern Family. On a high rock over which the water was not only dripping, but running, there grew several plants of the Maiden Hair Fern, (H.pedatum). So saturated with water were the moss and decaying vegetation in which these plants grew, that it was with ease I removed the plants, root-stock, fronds and all from their hold upon the rock. This A.pedatum is closely related to the Adiantum (Adiantum) which is occasionally in this part of the state and which should be called the Venus Hair Fern, or better, the Southern Maiden Hair Fern, is coarser, more common and less fern-like, as a comparison of the two will clearly and plainly show.

At the base of an old rock wall, which had been built many years ago ostensibly to prevent the soil from washing down the mountain side, there grew an abundance of the little "ebony spleenwort" (Asplenium Platyneuron). This fern is not generally cultivated and yet it would repay cultivation. It is called ebony because the stalks along which

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the fronds are arra nged are of a purplish brown color and shiny and lustrous like polished ebony. The term " spellenwort is applied indiscriminately to all the species of Asplenium, because formerly some of them were regarded as efficacious in the case of a morbid condition of both mind and body.

Some ferns prefer the deep, rich woods, some the banks of streams, some boggy or marshy ground, some even adorn with their graceful fronds the face of what would otherwise be a barren rock, while others seem to thrive best in open, sunny rocky grounds. In such a place as this it was that I found the " Christmas Fern" (Polystichum (?) acrostichoides). Growing among brush and logs, it was yet quite conspicuous on account of its evergreen fronds. The Brake, or Braker(Pteridium(?) latiusculum), like the Christmas Fern, seems to do best in open sunny places - the hotter the sun, the better it seems to thrive. Strange to say, this fern was not very common in the Ozarks. And yet it is the most common fern in the world for it is found in nearly every part of North America, except the extreme North, and in nearly every part of the Old World.

The broad Beech Fern(Phegopteris hexanoptera) called the Beech Fern because it grows most abundantly underneath certain Beech trees - the most polished and park-like of all the forest trees. It is a graceful fern and one of the few ferns whose fronds are fragrant. This, too, was rare in the Mountains.

On the shelf-like ledges of sand-stone rocks, wherever it could find sufficient soil to gain a root hold and maintain its existence there grew an abundance of the little Blunt-leaved Woodsia(W. obtusa). This fern is quite common in Texas, and tho.small it is graceful, and o so makes up in gracefulness that which it lacks in size, sturdiness and robustness.

From Winslow, a number of interesting excursions could be made, not only into the Mountains, where the roads were excellent, but also into the outlying mountain country. One such an excursion took us a distance of 70 miles thru the Ozarks to a place called Bella Vista. On the way we passed thru the cities of Fayetteville and Bentonville and several small towns. But whether cities or towns they all alike showed the benefit of a ell-managed agricultural region and one of the best fruit-growing sections in the state of Arkansas.

It goes without saying that Fayetteville is a model city; the swat of the U.of Ark., that University like all educational institutions, has attracted within its sphere and scope of its beneficent, cultural and humanizing influences, many people who are not wealthy, but cultured and refined. And this wealth, culture and refinement was plainlyto be seen, not only in the business part of the city but much more so, of course, in the residential part of Fayetteville.

At Bella Vista we were kindly and pleasantly welcomed by Dean Carl Venth and Mrs. Venth of the Fine Arts Department of Texas Woman's College, Fort Worth, who maintained a summer home at the Arkansas resort. Their residence is built upon the steep side of the Mountain and from the upper porch of the house one has a fine view , not only of the Mountai nsbut also of a wide sweep of mountain country. It is /a" Bella Vista " indeed.