TWILIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN

摘要

In the annals of botanical history, roan Mountain deserves a chapter all to itself. A massif, or series of peaks, along the North Carolina-Tennessee border, about forty miles as the crow flies from Asheville, North Carolina, the area is the Taj Mahal of floral habitats. For more than two centuries, just about any botanist worthy of his laurels, it seems, has come here, though the trip was often harsh and rugged. The Frenchman Andre Michaux, traveling as a plant collector in North America on behalf of King Louis XVI, was among the first, in 1789. Subsequent visitors included the legendary botanist Asa Gray of Harvard University, and later still, the renowned naturalist John Muir.