The Native Landscape Reader

“An Ecological Approach” (1933)

157 eLsa RehMaNN an Ecological approach (1933) Plant ecology is a comparatively new science . It had its origin at the turn of the century.* Scientists seemed no longer satisfied with the taxonomic study of plants nor even with a wider segregation in accordance with geographic and climatic differentiations . They found that vegetation was divided into distinct groupings through the inherent adaptation of plants to the environment in which they grew. These groups they called “plant associations.” The observations made as to what plants grow together and what they have in common as to soil, light, moisture, and temperature (all of which are the factors which make up what is called the plant’s “environment ”) became the basis of the study of plant ecology. This study has been kept almost entirely of a scientific turn. It needs, therefore, to be translated into a form that will make it available, in nomenclature and substance, to all those who are doing work in which the landscape and the vegetation which forms so vital a part of it come into consideration. In this list we can include not only landscape architects, owners and gardeners of private estates, and all those interested in national, state, and county parks, parkways, and reservations for the preservation of natural scenery, but those working on watersheds, reservoirs, and other public lands, and as real estate subdividers , city and town foresters, and engineers on roadway construction, including those in charge of roadside planting and maintenance as well as telephone and telegraph linemen. All in these several groups *In answer to an inquiry as to the origin of Plant Ecology , Professor Henry C. Cowles of the Department of Botany at the University of Chicago writes: “We generally figure that ecology was organized as a definite science in 1895 through the publication of Oecology of Plants: An Introduction to the Study of Plant Communities, by Professor Warming of the University of Copenhagen. This book stimulated efforts and research all over the world. However, there were special papers on the subject long before that. The word ‘ecology’ itself dates back to 1866, when it was coined by Haeckel; and as far back as 1836 an important work was published by Unger on the relation of soil to vegetation.” Professor Cowles adds that “plant geography is an older science than ecology, being generally dated back to the time of Humboldt, who wrote a very important treatise on the subject in 1804. Books on the subject were written in the twenties and thirties of the last century.” From Landscape Architecture 23, no. 4 (July 1933): 239–45. 158 thE nativE landsCaPE as a souRCE of insPiRation ought to be instructed in elementary ecology at least, if only to stimulate a respect for the native vegetation and the landscape of which the plants are so integral a part. In American Plants for American Gardens * an attempt has been made to bring to popular attention the subject of ecology in its relation to landscape architecture. This book had its origin in a pamphlet prepared for the Conservation Committee of the Garden Club of America by Edith A. Roberts , Professor of Botany at Vassar College, with the assistance of Margaret F. Shaw of the same department, who listed the plants native to Dutchess County, New York, and arranged them according to ecological associations. With the idea of unlocking the treasure that, except for the initiated, lay hidden in these lists and of making it available to the general reader, a series of magazine articles was written;† these were later gathered into book form. The lists were reorganized to fit a wider geographic scope as well as a nonscientific audience, and a descriptive and explanatory text was developed in connection with the most significant associations. Important plants were mentioned, the fundamentals that underlie each association were indicated, the natural compositions that they make were suggested, and the way they can be used about the house and in relation to it were outlined. For a book of its kind and size, the authors had to content themselves with a rather set plan and with suggestions which were limited to the private estate. But, with a little ingenuity on the part of the reader, the book can be adapted for wider use. It can, for instance, be used as a field book since it is really a primer to a more comprehensive understanding of native plants as well as to a keener appreciation of the relationship inherent between native vegetation and...