Russ,

The same type of phenomena can be seen all over where there are large bocks of stone.  Gardens for atop them where they are not browsed by deer.  Not only is there a variety of ferns, but often in wooded settings an amazing variety of mosses, and club mosses.  There are small flowering plants.  There may be small stunted trees, and sometimes larger trees with long roots dangling over the sides of the blocks and reaching the ground below.  One of the places around here I like to visit is called Beartown Rocks. It has a number of large sandstone blocks with gardens atop them.  I would be interested in hearing about other rock-top gardens found by other ENTS members

Ed Frank

http://www.nativetreesociety.org/fieldtrips/penna/beartown/beartown.htm
http://www.nativetreesociety.org/fieldtrips/penna/beartown/beartown2.htm

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Don:

About 250' in elevation above the valley bottom there is a 50' cliff and the rock broke off the cliff at sometime in the past.  The rock was cracked and the PI might have caused the crack.  In that area there are miles of woodland with a 50' cliff between uplands and lowlands.  In some places you will encounter large rocks at the base of the hills that can be up to 50 or 60' across and 30 or more feet thick.  In those areas, especially where there has been a long time forest cover the non woody plants growing on top of the rocks in locations that are inaccessible to deer or other types of grazing critters can be diverse enough to cause you to pause...especially if you have a weak spot for rare ferns.

Russ