1902] Clark, — Plants of the Blue Hills Reservation 75 



any dwelling. The shrubs were six or eight feet high and nearly 

 perfect in form, and when I last saw them they were completely cov- 

 ered with a mass of white flowers. 



Higher up on this hill Pycnanthcmum linifolium grows in large 

 patches, and near the top Diervilla trifida borders the paths upon 

 the north side, while along the road-sides at the foot of the hill a few 

 plants of Triostcum perfoliatum may be seen, thickly covered with 

 dust. 



Houstonia purpurea, var. longifolia is not uncommon, being found 

 in dry sandy soil in much the same surroundings as Polygala poly- 

 gama. 



One field well worthy of mention is covered with Houstonia cacrulca 

 growing in its perfection. When the plants are in flower the field is 

 a mass of Houstonia blue, visible for a long distance. 



A narrow but interesting strip of woods covering a portion of a 

 small hill-side furnishes some of the most desirable plants of the 

 whole section. Conopholis americana, not found elsewhere in the 

 Reservation, and possibly now reported for the first time this side of 

 Boston, here lifts its fleshy spikes of yellow flowers above the dried 

 oak leaves that cover the ground on the sunny slope of this hill. 

 Seventy-one spikes were counted here last year — a decided increase 

 over those of 1900. Aralia raccmosa is found sparingly here, and 

 also Coratiorhiza multiflora, Goodyera pubescens, Aetata alba, Desmo- 

 diutn paniculatum, D. rotundifolium, Chimaphila maculata, Cor/tus 

 canadensis and Lobelia spicata. 



This hill abruptly ends in a maple swamp, where a small brook 

 winding in and out and bordered with graceful ferns, makes one of 

 the most picturesque spots in this vicinity. Along this brook at one 

 place, growing in deep Sphagnum, there were in 1899 seven small 

 plants of Microstylis ophioglossoides ; in 1900 only five were left. 

 After careful search last season three very small specimens were all 

 that could be found there, but upon exploring farther up the brook 

 a collection of about one hundred plants was discovered, some of 

 which measured more than seven inches above the Sphagnum in which 

 they grew. I have found this species in Warquoit, Massachusetts, 

 (a part of Falmouth) growing always under oaks and pitch pines in 

 the grass in sandy soil. It also grows in Holbrook, Mass.. in dry oak 

 woods. I have compared the plants found in Sphagnum with those 

 that have grown in sand, and it seems to me that Microstylis fur- 



