Cypress Knees Research Articles

Methane Emissions Associated with Bald Cypress Knees Across the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley

Methane Emissions Associated with Bald Cypress Knees Across the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley

Bald Cypress knees, Taxodium distichum (Cupressaceae): An anatomical study, with functional implications

Bald Cypress knees are polymorphous narrowly conical or multitipped vertical root outgrowths formed predominantly in swampy habitats by Taxodium distichum. Almost 180 years of sporadic botanical attention to the knees has failed to generate consensus on their adaptive significance, a situation exacerbated by inadequate data on their structure. The purpose of the present project is to provide a broad structural study of the knees and associated roots, including bark. The effort is based primarily on microtome sections, on macerations, and on biopsy punch specimens from living knees. The knee wood is soft and light yet solid, with tracheids highly varied in length and diameter, often notably broad. Rays and axial parenchyma contain abundant starch. Rays are mostly uniseriate in the wood, and often dilate to multiseriate in the bark. Axial parenchyma is limited in the wood, prolific in the inner bark. The porous knee outer bark, comprised mostly of fibers and collapsed thin-walled cells, flakes off leaving few layers adherent to the inner bark. The inner bark is less porous and initiates cavities upon cell deterioration between fibers. While not ruling out the common perception of knees serving as “pneumatophores” ventilating the roots, the results suggest a critical role aerating the phloem as well as the axial parenchyma, ray parenchyma, and cambium within the knee itself.

Pathways for Methane Emissions and Oxidation that Influence the Net Carbon Balance of a Subtropical Cypress Swamp

We evaluated the major pathways for methane emissions from wetlands to the atmosphere at four wetland sites in the Big Cypress National Preserve in southwest Florida. Methane oxidation was estimated based on the δ13C-CH4of surface water, porewater, and bubbles to evaluate mechanisms that limit surface water emissions. Spatially-scaled methane fluxes were then compared to organic carbon burial rates. The pathway with the lowest methane flux rate was diffusion from surface waters (3.50 ± 0.22 mmol m−2 d−1). Microbial activity in the surface water environment and/or shallow oxic sediment layer oxidized 26 ± 3% of the methane delivered from anerobic sediments to the surface waters. The highest rates of diffusion were observed at the site with the lowest extent of oxidation. Ebullition flux rates were 2.2 times greater than diffusion and more variable (7.79 ± 1.37 mmol m−2 d−1). Methane fluxes from non-inundated soils were 1.6 times greater (18.4 ± 5.14 mmol m−2 d−1) than combined surface water fluxes. Methane flux rates from cypress knees (emergent cypress tree root structures) were 3.7 and 2.3 times higher (42.0 ± 6.33 mmol m−2 d−1) than from surface water and soils, respectively. Cypress knee flux rates were highest at the wetland site with the highest porewater methane partial pressure, suggesting that the emergent root structures allow methane produced in anaerobic sediment layers to bypass oxidation in aerobic surface waters or shallow sediments. Scaled across the four wetlands, emissions from surface water diffusion, ebullition, non-inundated soils, and knees contributed to 14 ± 2%, 25 ± 6%, 34 ± 10%, and 26 ± 5% of total methane emissions, respectively. When considering only the three wetlands with cypress knees present, knee emissions contributed to 39 ± 5% of the total scaled methane emissions. Finally, the molar ratio of CH4emissions to OC burial ranged from 0.03 to 0.14 in the wetland centers indicating that all four wetland sites are net sources of atmospheric warming potential on 20–100 yr timescales, but net sinks over longer time scales (500 yr) with the exception of one wetland site that was a net source even over 500 yr time scales.

Effects of cypress knee roughness on flow resistance and discharge estimates of the Turkey Creek watershed

Abstract Effects of cypress knee roughness on flow resistance and discharge estimates of the Turkey Creek watershed. In this study effects of cypress knees as vegetation resistance factor on Turkey Creek watershed discharge calculation were analyzed. The Turkey Creek watershed is a 3rd order stream system draining an approximate area of 5,240 ha. It is located at 33°08' N latitude and 79°47' W longitude, approximately 60 km north-west of City of Charleston in South Carolina (USA). Turkey Creek (WS 78) is typical of other watersheds in the south Atlantic coastal plain. In the case of Turkey Creek watershed, one of the main channels and riparian floodplain vegetation contains cypress trees. Cypress trees live in moist or swampy regions along the Atlantic coastal plain. The cypress trees are characterized by the unique root system called knees that appear just above the water line, up to 1.2 m above water surface. This study is conducted to examine the effects of roughness of cypress knee as related to its shape (diameter and height) on discharge estimates of the Turkey Creek watershed. Hydraulic characteristics of the cypress knees were determined by field inventory in selected cross-section along the main stream channel. The Pasche method was used to calculate the total Darcy–Weisbach friction factor in discharge capacity calculation of the study watershed. The results of this study show that the effect of vegetation shape in the Pasche approach is significant. If the variability of vegetation stem diameter is taken into consideration in the calculations, an increase by 10–32% in the values of friction coefficients occurs.

Root Aeration Function of Baldcypress Knees (Taxodium distichum)

Premise of research. The ability of cypress knees to allow easy diffusion of O2 from the atmosphere to the attached submerged root is supported by a number of past ecomorphological observations yet not by any experimental evidence, despite several past in situ studies that examined this phenomenon.Methodology. O2 concentration of air extracted from submerged roots was compared when attached knees were above water and when they were submerged.Pivotal results. When roots were submerged, the root internal air O2 concentration was much higher when the knee was above water than when both the knee and root were submerged. This result unambiguously supports past assumptions that cypress knees do indeed function as pneumatophores in supplying submerged roots with oxygen.Conclusions. Using a simple but unique experimental approach, the results of this study show that cypress knees function as pneumatophores.

Leaving Chicago

Leaving Chicago Jennifer Bartell (bio) Let me sleep in bed dreaming of disasters, let me lay awhile and wander, wallow in a swamp full of cypress knees that beckons us to forsake this mire full of bullets. We are the mighty cedar of Lebanon fortifying this bed in times such as these. Up there you hold up a green canopy above my head, but the sky bursts open and pours down rain, sour libations that ensnare our tongues, paralyze our feet. We missed our chance to be judged in May and instead stomped over to Memphis to try some blue barbecue. We then slid down farther south to whittle names in the cradle of the oak, laced with moss. Let me not dream of disasters. Let me not be lonely in the confines of your arms. Let me sleep in bed and let my slumber be restless. Content, let me dream of you before Chicago, before river, before wind, and drink the black coffee of your mouth. [End Page 394] Jennifer Bartell JENNIFER BARTELL, a teaching associate at Coastal Carolina University, graduated from Agnes Scott College in 2005 and received the MFA in poetry from the University of South Carolina in 2014. She has published poetry and nonfiction prose in a number of periodicals, including pluck!: The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, Blackberry, Jasper Magazine, and The Art of Medicine in Metaphors. She lives in Johnsonville, South Carolina. Copyright © 2015 The Johns Hopkins University Press

Leftovers, 1993

Leftovers, 1993 Dave Zoby (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Photo by Gene Royer Interstate 64 from Richmond, Virginia, to Newport News tunnels through thick and silent stands of pitch pines. Occasionally there are breaks in the trees, and the traveler glimpses a farmhouse, peanut fields or a swampy depression in the landscape where cypress knees swim in brackish lagoons. But mostly it's just pine trees and pine trees. They crowd the interstate and block the view on both sides of the highway. At night—when I do most of my driving—the moonlight pools on the pavement. Stars appear in the narrow cut of sky above. [End Page 179] Back in those days I departed Richmond when the bars closed. Driving my father's white station wagon, I ascended the on-ramp at Boulevard. I mashed the accelerator and watched the city rise behind me as I fled it. In the wee hours of the night, I raced past Mechanicsville, then Cold Harbor, then Norge, out into the dark, unpeopled stretches of Virginia. The yard lights of farmhouses floated out there, just barely connected to the earth. Is it worth pointing out that I believed the people in these farmhouses were happier than the people I knew in real life? I was in graduate school, studying poetry under the late Larry Levis. He was late even then: late to class, late to meetings. But I was late too, so we got along. I had a part-time job in a bar in the Fan neighborhood. The Fan was a neighborhood of streets that spun from a center point like spokes on a wheel. In the 1990s it was famous for recent gentrification and its handful of transvestites who hung on despite the hike in rents. The bar was close enough to the university that professors wandered in shyly to sip beer and conduct their illicit love affairs with students half their ages. I was studying literature, and here I will resist the temptation to list titles and names of authors. Often I went out to the tiny bars along Clive Street or holed up in the Village Café until closing. I would go to the Church Hill neighborhood and sit upon the frowsy furniture of drinking parlors. My friends would choose petty arguments with each other about poetry and art. Some of them would claim relations to long-gone Virginian families of wealth and stature. But our real aim was to spot the ghostly figure of Levis moving along the unlit streets. Most of the time we were unsuccessful; last call would come and go. And I realized, at these moments, that I had wrung all of the pleasure out of the day. There was nothing left. So I drove east, seventy-five miles to Newport News. As I tunneled east through pine forests, I kept the windows cracked. There was the cool air keeping me alert, the radio coming and going. I had an estranged girlfriend in Newport News, and I bore the vision of her before me as I drove. The scent of rotting leaves faded, replaced by the scent of salt marshes. I was getting somewhere. Williamsburg, then Yorktown; I was closing in. The blue heron was standing out there somewhere in the purple darkness of the salt marsh, standing alone, as always. I believe now that it was my mother who kept my father from changing the locks. She was proud that her son was studying poetry, though had she known the true nature of my pursuits, she would have been unenthusiastic. My father was becoming increasingly suspicious, and he was tired of the [End Page 180] predawn arrivals. All my brothers and sisters had gone off to begin their lives. They were married and lived in their own houses. They had careers. My parents' house was largely empty, and it sounded hollow when I opened and shut the doors of empty rooms. One fall morning, I woke up in Tidewater with a terrible hangover. My mother offered me coffee, juice, an English muffin. I was irritated and gruff. Her generosity made me feel foul. My father was at the library. I...

Discovering Euler Circuits and Paths through a Culturally Relevant Lesson

Deep in the heart of southern Louisiana's Cajun country, middle school students enter a mathematics classroom. They hear Cajun music playing in the background and observe cattails and cypress knees “growing” along the bottom of the classroom walls. Foam crawfish lie on plastic bayous on the tables around the room. The room is filled with excitement for what is about to occur. These students begin to question each other, and ask: “Is this math?” “Perhaps we're going to skip math and do social studies?” “Maybe we are going to learn how to do a Cajun line dance?”

Methane emissions from cypress knees in a southeastern floodplain swamp

Methane emissions from cypress knees in a southeastern floodplain swamp

Methane emissions from cypress knees in a southeastern floodplain swamp.

Methane emissions were observed from knees of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) in floodplain swamps of the Ogeechee river, a blackwater river in the lower coastal plain of Georgia, USA Emissions were sampled on 10 dates from March 1988 to September 1989, with small chambers placed over single knees. Methane emission rates from individual knees averaged 0.90 mg/d, corresponding to an average of 0.14 mg m-2 d-1 for the whole floodplain. In the habitat with the highest knee density (0.42 knees/m2), the average rate was 0.55 mg m-2 d-1. Spatial patterns in emissions from knees were similar to those of overall methane emissions from the swamp surface, though because of their low density were a minor contribution (0.42%) to total methane emissions from this system.

Nutritional exploitation of dead trunks: another function of cypress knees (Taxodium distichum)?

In one cypress dome in the Everglades National Park, cypress knees seem to develop from vertical root loops that grow along and ramify into dead cypress stumps. Nearly all young root loops emerge close to a decaying stump. The proportion of these associations decreases as the diameter and presumed age of the loops increase. Loop density correlates with the density of dead but not of live trunks. These preliminary findings suggest that the root loops emerge primarily near dead stumps and exploit their nutrients until the stumps rot away and the loops develop into mature knees.

January Elegy

January Elegy Inheritance Their colors stark beyond my desolation, black tree trunks trace skeletons on chalked skies. White and black gulls feather the air, fanning cold winds to earth. Grey pigeons cluster. I sit alone and toss my few crumbs onto snow. -Margaret D. Kirkland Cabin Architecture The homemade cabin where I live now Has windows that, as revealed by their Architectural details, were once doors. Was it a fear of fire that made the man And woman who built this place put full Openings into the walls at all quarters? Or were there reasons they knew best for Making these big openings into otherwise Completely filled (that is, windowless) Sides? I have a guess about the reasons. It wasn't fear made these people leave Openings into the woods. They had always Hunted things we never see. They just Wanted to keep clear views, to be able To walk out after food or into the light. They didn't see the need for windows then, Those shields behind which separated scenes Fill our eyes, but not our hands or mouths. -Frans van der Bog Granny grew up in the mountains With corn shuck dolls, Cauldron-made soup, And mountain lions. Marriage took her with a ruby ring And her wedding quilt to A foreign land Of cypress knees in sultry swamps. My mother and I played with Castles of Spanish Moss, Snake bracelets, Pine straw tunnels, And petrified wood. But Granny's memories settled in my soul And I came home. One day my daughter will inherit Ring and quilt, But she already shares Childhood memories of Icy mountain streams, Foot deep snow, Blackberries in July, And wind walking through the grasses Of an Appalachian bald. -Barbara Eberly 56 ...

Cabin Architecture

January Elegy Inheritance Their colors stark beyond my desolation, black tree trunks trace skeletons on chalked skies. White and black gulls feather the air, fanning cold winds to earth. Grey pigeons cluster. I sit alone and toss my few crumbs onto snow. -Margaret D. Kirkland Cabin Architecture The homemade cabin where I live now Has windows that, as revealed by their Architectural details, were once doors. Was it a fear of fire that made the man And woman who built this place put full Openings into the walls at all quarters? Or were there reasons they knew best for Making these big openings into otherwise Completely filled (that is, windowless) Sides? I have a guess about the reasons. It wasn't fear made these people leave Openings into the woods. They had always Hunted things we never see. They just Wanted to keep clear views, to be able To walk out after food or into the light. They didn't see the need for windows then, Those shields behind which separated scenes Fill our eyes, but not our hands or mouths. -Frans van der Bog Granny grew up in the mountains With corn shuck dolls, Cauldron-made soup, And mountain lions. Marriage took her with a ruby ring And her wedding quilt to A foreign land Of cypress knees in sultry swamps. My mother and I played with Castles of Spanish Moss, Snake bracelets, Pine straw tunnels, And petrified wood. But Granny's memories settled in my soul And I came home. One day my daughter will inherit Ring and quilt, But she already shares Childhood memories of Icy mountain streams, Foot deep snow, Blackberries in July, And wind walking through the grasses Of an Appalachian bald. -Barbara Eberly 56 Earl Palmer 57 ...

Substrate Heterogeneity and Regeneration of a Swamp Tree, Nyssa aquatica

We investigated physical characteristics of several substrate types in a South Carolina riverine swamp forest, and the effect of those characteristics upon germination and seedling growth of the dominant swamp tree, Nyssa aquatica (water tupelo). Substrates were categorized as emergent (surfaces of trees, living cypress knees, stumps, or logs), protected (submerged sediment adjacent to an emergent object), or open (sediment > 50 cm from any emergent object and fully submerged during the growing season). Water tupelo seeds germinated best (> 25% in 16 days) on emergent substrates, but seed predation was extremely high on these same substrates. Substrate types differed significant in permanence and in rates of sediment loss or deposition. Growth rates of transplanted seedlings did not differ among substrate types. The result suggest that mortality due to erosional scour or impermanent rooting zones, superimposed on germination patterns, is responsible for the observed nonrandom distribution of woody plant seedlings among substrate types in the swamp forest.

SUBSTRATE HETEROGENEITY AND REGENERATION OF A SWAMP TREE, NYSSA AQUATICA

We investigated physical characteristics of several substrate types in a South Carolina riverine swamp forest, and the effect of those characteristics upon germination and seedling growth of the dominant swamp tree, Nyssa aquatica (water tupelo). Substrates were categorized as emergent (surfaces of trees, living cypress knees, stumps, or logs), protected (submerged sediment adjacent to an emergent object), or open (sediment > 50 cm from any emergent object and fully submerged during the growing season). Water tupelo seeds germinated best (>25% in 16 days) on emergent substrates, but seed predation was extremely high on these same substrates. Substrate types differed significantly in permanence and in rates of sediment loss or deposition. Growth rates of transplanted seedlings did not differ among substrate types. The results suggest that mortality due to erosional scour or impermanent rooting zones, superimposed on germination patterns, is responsible for the observed nonrandom distribution of woody plant seedlings among substrate types in the swamp forest.

Ecological Consideration of Cypress Heads in Northcentral Florida

Cypress heads are symmetrical domes of variable sizes in which pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens), black gum (Nyssa biflora), slash (Pinus elliottii), red maple (Acer rubrum), and wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera) are the more important tree species. Vegetation and soil data were collected from 15 such stands in northcentral Florida in an effort to characterize this vegetation type. Interstand floristic variation was found to be partially related to depth of maximum flooding, calcium, potassium, and pH. Soil from four additional stands was sampled along two radii extending from the center to the edge of the dome. Potassium, organic matter, and clay definitely increased toward the center, while calcium and magnesium exhibited a slight increase toward the center. Soil pH decreased from edge to center. INTRODUCTION Throughout the flatwoods regions of the southern Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, certain conspicuous stands of vegetation break the level horizon of the pine-palmetto woodlands. These are groups of closely spaced trees varying in area from one to several hundred acres. The most striking aspect of these stands is that in silhouette they have a smoothly symmetrical dome-like shape. They are high in the center and round off at the sides as if the trees had all been carefully pruned to conform to some geometric plan. These stands are called cypress heads or domes and have attracted a great deal of attention; first because of their unusual appearance, and later because of some of their less obvious characteristics. Among the first of the early writers who described some features of cypress heads, was John Bartram (1769). He mentions ponds where the water was about knee-deep, more or less, some of which contained from 1 to 10 acres; but some ponds are a mile or two big, more or less, some surrounded close with the adjacent pinelands, and others with large savannahs at one or both sides, with a rivulet running out, and sometimes with a bay or cypress swamp at the head. Williams (1827) wrote of pine barren swamps which are natural basins containing the waters of the surrounding country. These swamps, when covered with small coast cypress trees and knees, are usually, but improperly termed cypress galls. He also describes cypress knees and the swollen base of the tree which . . grows up straight, and the cone gradually swells out underneath it, as high as the highest stage of the water. 1 Present address: Botany Department, University of Georgia and Laboratory of Radiation Ecology, Bldg. 772-G, Aiken, South Carolina. 2 Present address: Department of Zoology, University of California, Los Angeles.

Fissidens of Tishomingo State Park, Tishomingo County, Mississippi

Twelves species of Fissidens are reported from northeastern Mississippi. One of these, F. asplenioides Hedw., has not previously been recorded from the United States. Tishomingo County, and especially that portion lying within the boundaries of Tishomingo State Park, is a thoroughly dissected, rugged region with many protected coves and ravines. Huge blocks of Highland Church sandstone are common on the steep hillsides and along Bear Creek. Many of the vertical walls of the boulders, continuously wet from seeping water, are densely covered with mosses and ferns. Although collections were made of other species of mosses, this report is confined to Fissidens. To my knowledge, no previous collections of mosses have been reported from this area. I wish to thank Dr. Howard A. Crum for assistance in the identification of species. Voucher specimens are deposited in the herbarium of Mississippi State College for Women. The collection numbers are mine. Fissidens adianthoides Hedw. On moist soil at base of tree; 4351. Fissidens asplenioides Hedw. Soil on boulder in stream near the park lake; 4290, 4291. According to Dr. Crum, F. asplenioides has been col1 This work was made possible by a grant from the Research Fund of Mississippi State College for Women. 2 Department of Biology, Mississippi State College for Women, Columbus, Mississippi. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.209 on Sat, 14 May 2016 05:48:07 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 100 THE BRYOLOGIST [Volume 68 lected once before in the United States, in South Carolina, but it has not been reported in the literature. Fissidens bushii Card. & Th6r. With F. ravenelii in crevice of cypress bark, bank of Bear Creek; 4265. Fissidens cristatus Wils. ex Mitt. & Wils. Base of hickory, near the lake; 4292. Fissidens debilis Schwaegr. On cypress knees, at water line in Bear Creek; 4278. Fissidens donnellii Aust. On wet decayed log near the lake; 4359. Fissidens exiguus Sull. On wet boulder, edge of Bear Creek, intermingled with Ceratophyllum; 4353. Fissidens minutulus Sull. On boulders, edge of Bear Creek; 4272, 4276. Fissidens pellucidus Hornsch. On boulders, edge of Bear Creek; 4352. Fissidens ravenelii Sull. Crevice of cypress bark, bank of Bear Creek; 4265. On boulders in stream near the lake; 4295. Fissidens subbasilaris Hedw. On base of tree, near the lake; 4361. Fissidens taxifolius Hedw. Soil on boulder under bridge near the lake; 4299. Fissidens asplenioides New to the United States' HOWARD CRUM2 AND LEWIS E. ANDERSON3 Abstract. Fissidens asplenioides Hedw., new to the flora of the United States, has been found in Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The species is described and illustrations are provided to show its difference from F. polypodioides Hedw. Fissidens asplenioides Hedw., new to the flora of the United States, has been found in Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The species is described and illustrations are provided to show its difference from F. polypodioides Hedw. Fissidens asplenioides Hedw., a common species of the American tropics, has recently been found in collections from Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. It is related to F. polypodioides Hedw. and, because of its close resemblance, could easily be mistaken for that species. It seems desirable, therefore, to provide a description for F. asplenioides and to illustrate the essential features of the two species. FISSIDENS ASPLENIOIDES Hedw., Sp. Musc. 156. 1801. Plants rather small or medium-sized, about 1-2.5 cm high. Leaves strongly curled at the tips when dry, 2-3 mm long, oblong-ligulate (and slightly sigmoid-asymmetric), ? wavy, obtuse to rounded or sometimes broadly acute, somewhat pale-margined across the apex, evenly crenate-serrulate, unbordered; dorsal lamina rather broad, usually ending rather abruptly somewhat above the leaf base; costa pellucid, ending 5-10 cells below the apex; cells 7-9k wide, hexagonal, thinwalled, bulging. Dioicous. Setae terminal, 4-8 mm long, red or red-yellow; capsules erect or nearly so, 1.25-1.5 mm long; operculum 1 Grateful acknowledgment is made to the National Science Foundation for a grant (G-7464) to Duke University in support of this work. We thank Phyllis Pollard for the preparation of Figures 1-15. 2 National Museum of Canada, Ottawa (Ontario), Canada. 3 Department of Botany, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.209 on Sat, 14 May 2016 05:48:07 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Cypress knees and the blind: response of blind subjects to the Kerman cypress knee projective technic (KCK).

Cypress knees and the blind: response of blind subjects to the Kerman cypress knee projective technic (KCK).

Cypress knees and objectrelations; theoretical basis of a new three-dimensional projective technic (KCK).

Cypress knees and objectrelations; theoretical basis of a new three-dimensional projective technic (KCK).

Wood as a Substratum for Perennial Plants in the Southeast

The forests of the Coastal Plain, with their high rainfall and long growing seasons, provide many unique places where seeds may find a favorable habitat in which to germinate. Seed plants ordinarily terrestrial have been found rooting in fallen logs, sawed stumps, natural stumps or snags left by fire, trees killed by lightning, dead tops or stag-heads, dead cypress knees, and in chopped turpentine boxes. Numerous interesting photographs and detailed observations have been obltained during the last two years' field experience in the Coastal Plain of Georgia. At least nine species of perennial herbs, ten shrubs, and five kinds of trees have been observed to have started growing in dead wood. A list of these wood-dwelling perennials is given in Table 1, together with an indication as to their reproductive success and commonness in this habitat. Further observation would doubtless add other species to the list. No cryptogams are included. A few perennials found growing in wood in certain parts of North Carolina are reported separately in Table 2. Various seed plants have been observed growing on wood in northern Florida also. At least half of these species finally reached the fruiting stage. By the time these plants are large enough to reproduce, they have root systems well established in the decayed wood in which they are growing, and those growing in low stumps or logs will have extended their roots through the rotten wood into the mineral soil beneath. In one example, however, a gallberry bush (llex glabra) was found growing in some dead wood high in the top of a living longleaf pine. The roots of this plant penetrated the dead wood in an irregular cavity left by the breaking away of a large limb. Thus the bush was growing and fruiting 50 feet above the ground. Other shrubs have been seen in the tops of dead trunks 30 or 40 feet tall. In Figure 1 the natural stump was about seven feet tall. A slash pine tree about 18 inches tall was found growing in a floating log in a pond, obviously without roots in mineral soil. Stumps of any kind frequently harbor these terrestrials. Figures 2 and 3 are photographs of sawed stumps 3.0 and 2.5 feet tall, respectively. Figure 4 is probably a natural stump although this could not be ascertained with certainty. Figure 5 is doubtless a natural stump. Dead knees of pond bald cypress (Taxodium ascendens Brongniart) sometimes provide a temporary substratum for land plants in the swamps and, of course, the live knees frequently are superficially inhabited by the more simple and primitive members of the plant kingdom. Where these dead knees occur surrounded by water there are no other places for a land plant to grow. Turpentine boxes provide another type of niche in which seed plants