FOREWORD 



This book attempts to be a companion for any one who 

 desires to be more intimate with the wild flowers on 

 Nantucket. 



Undeniably, the natural setting of the island's wild 

 flowers casts an abiding spell, most deeply felt on "the Com- 

 mons" (the heathland), where the majority of the wild 

 flowers grow. This allurement may be born of vast and 

 open spaces, where an air of elusive mystery, under the 

 magnifying influence of a salt atmosphere, hangs about 

 the low and rolling hills. Or it may be due to a vicarious 

 joy in the triumph of flowers that have to fight for exist- 

 ence. Yet the very elements that make the fight neces- 

 sary salt winds and unhampered sunshine are known to 

 be influences also in creating intensity of colour in flowers 

 and grasses. And beauty of colouring is, unquestionably, 

 one of the strongest bonds between the Commons and us. 



Even in winter colour is by no means lacking. The 

 lustrous Mealy-plum Vine carpets all the dry ground, and 

 " Evergreen" bushes are abundant in the swamps. Later, 

 the Commons in certain places arc covered with May- 

 flowers or the eye rests on an endless carpet of the Barren 

 Heath (Hudsonia], dazzlingly yellow, or 



"Over hill, over dale, 

 Thorough bush, thorough brier," 



are flaunted the most brilliant crimsons and yellows and 

 purples. A veiling haze and changing lights save this 

 profuseness of colour from barbaric crudity, softening 

 outlines and colours. 



Still another factor in making Nantucket a happy hunt- 

 ing-ground for those interested in flowers is the geograph- 

 ical location. As Prof. Asa Gray once declared, nothing 

 is a surprise from Nantucket. It is an island, thirty miles 



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