14 



RANDOM BOTANICAL NOTES. 



III. ISLE-AUX-COUDRES, QuE. 



By Bro. M. Victorin, Longueuil College, Que. 



For the purpose of furthering phytogeographical 

 researches bearing upon the semi-halophytic section 

 of the St. Lawrence river, and with the special aim 

 of collecting specimens of Carex for monographical 

 work, we alighted by noontide on June 22, 1917, 

 on the Baie St. Paul wharf; our plant-press and 

 other botanical outfit, though not imposing too much 

 on the sturdy shoulders of the natives, nevertheless 

 excited their curiosity to the utmost. 



ically and botanically. We have given elsewhere'^ 

 the impressions gathered from that quaint romantic 

 spot which has preserved to an almost incredible 

 degree, the language, customs and traditions of the 

 1 7th century and which, moreover, retains the most 

 remarkable originality of not being spoiled by tour- 

 ists. The following lines intend only to record 

 briefly the botanical data collected. 



Isle-aux-Coudres is of about fifteen miles' cir- 



S^. LAWRENCE BiVXTl 



pp.ntt . |3jtt 



ILE 



AUX 



COUDRES 



Like most of the members of the botanical fratern- 

 ity, we have never succeeded in making clear to 

 the average guide, driver or paddler, the point of 

 view of the botanist. Notwithstanding this failure 

 and through the good offices of Francois Bouchard, 

 we crossed the channel and landed on Isle-aux- 

 Coudres towards four o'clock. At the west end 

 of the island, there is no other sort of wharf than 

 Francois Bouchard's back, but this is as sure as a 

 cantilever bridge. One who takes a strong hold 

 about the fellow's neck crosses the wide e.xpanse of 

 mud and Fucus stretching at low tide between the 

 water and the shore proper without injury to his 

 boots. 



A full week was spent visiting the island histor- 



cumference and lies in the course of the St. Law- 

 rence river about fifty miles below Quebec city. 

 Though the inspection of a map would make one 

 think that it belongs to the north shore, from which 

 it is separated only by a relatively narrow channel, 

 yet, like most probably all of the St. Lawrence 

 islands it is on the southeastern side of Logan's fault, 

 and is really a detached part of the south shore, 

 showing the same inclined strata of shale and lime- 

 stone as the near-by Cambrian Sillery of L'Islet. 

 The whole island is an upland of from 50 to 100 

 feet elevation surrounded by a narrow alluvial 



iFr. Marie-Victorln, Croquis laurentiens: Isle- 

 aux-Coudre.s. Le F'ailer Frangais, Vol. XVI. No. 

 1, lip. 164-171. 1917. 



