This month’s cover comes from North Carolina State University’s (NCSU) collection of photographs by pioneering ecologist B. W. Wells. Much of Wells’ work focused on the ecologically unique Big Savannah located in Pender County, North Carolina. Inspired by Big Savannah, Wells set out on a mission to understand and document the native plants of North Carolina and how they interact with and are influenced by their environment.

The image is from NSCU’s collection of Well’s hand-tinted lantern slides and features a brakish salt marsh with tall panic grass (Panicum virgatum) in the foreground. It was originally published in Well’s The Natural Gardens of North Carolina. For more on the Wells collection, visit www.lib.ncsu.edu/exhibits/wells/.