TRbooora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 13. February, 1911. No. 146. 
FLORA OF LOWER CAPE COD; THIRD NOTE. 
F. S. COLLINS. 
In my two notes on the plants of Cape Cod ! I gave a general account 
of those conditions in the town of Eastham, Massachusetts, that 
would be likely to affect its flora, and also gave some notes as to the 
relative representation of different families, and the occurrence or 
non-occurrence of particular species. As to the first, there is nothing 
now to add, but as a result of another year’s observations from May 
to September, 1910, I have something to add to the second. What 
I have observed this year shows that final conclusions cannot be 
drawn from anything but long-continued study; that the unexpected 
is always happening; and that there is a vast difference between 
positive and negative evidence. If you have found a certain plant 
in a certain place, you can safely say that it occurs there; if you 
have looked for it for years and not found it, it is not safe to say that 
the plant does not grow there. An illustration of this is the case of 
Monotropa. In the years 1906 to 1909 I had been watching for our 
two species of the genus, but unsuccessfully, and was fairly well 
convinced that they were not to be found in Eastham. But on the 
fifth of September, 1910, I began to see them frequently in places 
where I had often been before. There had been a rainy day, and as 
soon as the sunshine came again, the Monotropas came pushing up 
through the pine needles. These colorless plants always have a 
resemblance to mushrooms in appearance, and 1 was now struck 
1On the flora of lower Cape Cod, Ruopora, Vol. XI, p. 125; Flora of lower Cape 
Cod; supplementary Note, Rnuopona, Vol. XII, p. 8. 
