IRbofcora 



JOURNAL OF 



THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 



Vol. 4 May, 1902 No. 41 



OAK ISLAND AND ITS FLORA. 



Wm. P. Rich. 



Rising out of the salt marsh, but a few hundred feet back from 

 the beach, in the town of Revere, Massachusetts, is a little tract of 

 woodland known as Oak Island. The Eastern Division of the Bos- 

 ton and Maine Railway passes through it, dividing it into two sec- 

 tions, the eastern and the western parts. The Island was, however, 

 originally divided into two parts, between which was a low marshy 

 space, but as the changes in topography that have been wrought in 

 recent years, by the building of a road, race-course, hotel and other 

 accretions to a summer resort, have somewhat obliterated the former 

 lines of division, and as by far the richest flora is found in the grove 

 beyond the railway, it is more convenient botanically to make the 

 railway a dividing line between the two sections. 



The eastern part as thus understood contains an area of about 

 eleven acres and the ground is mostly higher and drier than in the 

 western part, and by reason of its frequent use as an excursion resort, 

 the ground covering, excepting around the edges has been pretty 

 much' destroyed. The western part comprising about ten acres is a 

 damp open grove and in its rich, black soil grow such a number of 

 interesting plants that for a period of seventy-five years it has been a 

 well-known collecting ground for botanists. 



Many similar marsh islands are found along the coasts of Massa- 

 chusetts and New Hampshire, but in none of them exist such a vari- 

 ety and abundance of notable plants as at Oak Island. Very nearly 

 four hundred species have been recorded growing naturally here. 

 Should there be another tract of land in New England of twenty 

 acres in extent which supports a flora equaling in number of species 



