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JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 1 October, 1899 No. 10 
SOME RARE PLANTS OF NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS. 
TEO FULLER. 
LikE that of most towns in the vicinity of large cities, the flora of 
Needham is undergoing slow but continual changes, by the introduc- 
tion of species foreign to its soil, and the extinction of some endemic 
ones which are so unfortunate as to grow only in the path of settlement. 
However desirable the increase of population may be in the view of 
the political economist, some of its accompaniments cause serious 
mischief for the lover of wild plants. He cannot see great roadside 
trees in their second century, giants which can never be replaced, cut 
down by order of their temporary owner because a smallarea of his 
field is shaded, without a feeling of indignation ; and the extermination 
of a species from his township by the irresistible wave of improvement 
leaves a sense of keenest regret. 
No doubt many species disappear whose loss is unnoticed ; but a 
few instances have come under my observation. In the course of 
years some may perish from entirely natural causes. Such may have 
been the case with /Zottonia inflata, which grew here sixty years ago, 
authenticated by specimens in my possession, collected by our first 
botanist, Dr. Josiah Noyes, in 1834. This species may have been torn 
up by ice in spring and carried away by floods. Dr. Noyes also found 
Polygonella articulata at two stations, and Crotalaria sagittalis, but 
neither grows here now. 
Castilleia coccinea is of more recent extinction, and clearly by the 
hand of man. It flourished abundantly in one meadow thirty years 
ago, until a street was laid out directly through its home, and the 
traveling public, coming within view of the remaining plants, soon ex- 
tirpated this beautiful native from our flora. Twenty years since Ale- 
tris farinosa was in our list, but the ground is now occupied by houses. 
