Sand Mountain is a plateau of about 180km/110M in length and 40km/25M in width. Numerous creeks and rivers have excavated deep gorges into its margins. Near the community of Pisgah the small gorge of Little Bryant Creek flows into much wider and deeper Jones Cove. In the forested bluffs above the creeks and waterfalls there is R. catawbiense f. insularis growing. In this area the community of Pisgah has constructed a kind of wooden tribune with steps to sit on. Maybe they are having concerts or similar events there. As you would expect from any public building some green stuff has been planted around it to make it nicer. In this case the plants were R. catawbiense f. catawbiense. One cannot see the differences between the two varieties more clearly than here. The mountain form remains compact and has no indumentum on the leaves’ midribs. Flower trusses and leaves are smaller. Unfortunately by these tomfool plantings foreign genes are being imported into the native stand of f. insularis, that is growing nearby. Please, can some American let the mayor know about the problem in order to have the bought plants destroyed and have them replaced by the native form? I guess somebody down there will have a spade …
