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| FLORA OF THE JACOBS CREEK VALLEY For the field botanist, the valley of Jacobs Creek is one of the richest collecting grounds to be found in the East. The flora is varied and a number of plants found here are regarded as rare and unusual. Few sections of this country have a greater variety of trees and shrubs. More than 75 species of the former have been collected in this valley and nearly as many species of shrubs are found here. Among the rarer trees we will mention the Striped or Goosefoot Maple, a small grove of which is found along a steep ravine just south or the old furnace. Three miles east or Mount Pleasant, Pa., in a rield stands the largest Sorrel Tree or Sour-wood to be found in America, with a diameter or more than two feet. So far there is not another tree of this species that has a diameter of more than fifteen inches. This is a southern tree that just comes as far north as Pennsylvania, and only a few trees are known to exist in the state. The tree referred to above should be protected by the State or Nation. Near the mouth of Jacobs Creek, a few years ago, stood probably the largest Hackberry Tree to be found in Pennsylvania. It somewhat resembled an Elm with wide spreading branches. This tree was ruthlessly cut down because it shaded the road near which it stood. I measured the stump and found 18 inches from the ground the tree was 4 feet, six inches in diameter. A noteworthy shrub grows in the upper valley or Jacobs Creek. This is the Oil-nut or Buffalo-nut. This shrub was found in Pennsylvania by Michaux, the noted Botanist, in 1802, while traveling in America. He heard of the shrub in Philadelphia and came on west of the mountains and found it in Westmoreland County, near the headwaters of Jacobs Creek. Michaux was of the opinion that oil could be compressed from the nuts and used as a substitute for olive oil, but the shrub proved to be a root parasite, difficult to grow as it requires certain hosts. The shrub was lost to botantists of the state until 1862 when it was found near Mount Pleasant, Pa. by a Mr. Johnson. Botantists again lost track of it until the year 1900 when the writer found it growing on the banks or Jacobs Creek about a mile south of Laurelville. The writer has found more than 30 species of ferns growing within a radius of scarcely more than a mile from the Alliance Furnace. Among these are the Walking Fern, the dainty Maiden Hair, Spleenwort, the Mountain Spleenwort, and the Purple stemmed Cliffbrake. The last mentioned species grow on the rocks opposite the old furnace, one of the few stations of this plant to be found in the Western half of the state. |
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