216 Rhodora [ DECEMBER 
tions, and it may be remarked that the smallest botanical box will be 
sufficiently large to hold all that may be found during the months of 
January and February. The two months just mentioned are, however, 
the only ones in which flowering plants will be found at all scarce. 
Beginning with November let us briefly review the floral conditions 
existing in eastern Massachusetts during the colder months of the year. 
In this month plants in flower are so numerous as hardly to excite com- 
ment. Ona recent excursion, November 13, fifty-one species still in 
flower were recorded, and the list might easily have been enlarged by 
further search. 
In December during the earlier part of the month, should the 
ground be free from snow and the weather mild, as is frequently the 
case in this region, numerous plants still lingering in flower can usually 
be found without much effort, In that delightful sketch, “December 
out of Doors, ” by Bradford Torrey, occurs the fullest list of December 
flowers that I have yet seen. He records the names of sixteen species, 
and to that number I have thus far been able to add but three others, 
as follows: Hepatica (Hepatica triloba, Chaix), recorded by E. H. 
Hitchings; Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale, Weber) ; Sea- 
side Golden Rod (Solidago sempervirens, L.). The Golden Rod I 
found as late as December 22, at Revere Beach, Mass., in fine fresh 
flower, though with blackened and shrivelled leaves. 
The record for the next two months, January and February, though 
meagre, does not lack its representatives. In January there have been 
found in flower the Hepatica, E. H. Hitchings; Knawel (Sc/eranthus 
annuus, L.) ; Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris, L.) , Bradford Torrey ; Chick- 
weed (.Sze/aria media, Cyrill.) ; and the Dandelion. On the 18th of 
this month in 1899 the Dandelion appeared in full bloom on a grassy 
bank at Chelsea, Mass., in such numbers as to attract public attention. 
In February my list records the Hepatica, E. H. Hitchings; Chick- 
weed, concerning which Thoreau remarks “apparently it never rests” ; 
Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus, Salisb.), Frank Bolles; Dande- 
lion; Mayflower (/figaea repens, L.), a small bunch of which I re- 
ceived from Orleans, Mass., that was collected in full flower February 
12, 1899, and on the same day my informant adds that some Strawberry 
plants in his garden were in bloom. The Dandelion, it may be said, has 
been found in flower every month of the year. Willows in staminate 
flower are occasionally met with in January and February, but owing to 
the difficulty of identifying the species they are not included in the lists. 
