16 



The Canadian Field- Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIII. 



setts, Ccnnerticut, New York, Michigan, Vermont, 

 Minnesr^a. British Columbia, Ontario. 



To finish with the sedges, we will mention C. 

 slipala Muhl., C. brunnescens (Pers.) Poir., and 

 Carex angustior Mackenzie found here and there 

 on the island, s-ivinR a total of thirteen species met 

 with a rather small number. 



In June very few grasses are suitable for collect- 

 ing and only Poa praiensis L. and Poa alsodes Gray 

 were gathered. 



Among early-flowering genera, the often assoc- 

 iated Viola and Antennaria hold an important place 

 The collection of true Viola cucullaia Ait. in damp 

 ground has already been mentioned. In the woods 

 outside the bog zone, Viola renifolia Gray, var. 

 Brainerdii (Greene) Fernald, is abundant. On 

 shaded ledges near the water, Viola septentrionalis 

 Greene was growing profusely with the snow-white 

 Antennaria canadensis Greene. No other Anten- 

 naria not even the ubiquitous A. neodioica was 

 detected on the island. 



Nobody who has read the history of this country 

 can leave Isle-au-Coudres without paying a visit to 

 Cap a La Branche where in the times of Wolfe, 

 Nicette Dufour and Franqois Savard captured the 

 grandson of Admiral Durrell. Cap a La Branche 

 is naturally but a low cliff covered with bushes and 

 with a few white cedars which are supposed to have 

 been Dufour and Savard's hiding-place a snug 

 one indeed. A brooklet runs down and supplies 

 sufficient moisture to induce a gorgeous growth of 

 Saxifraga virginiensis Michx. and Draba arabisans 

 Michx. 



At the Pointe-de-L'Islet, on exposed ledges fac- 

 ing the sea, the short grass was strewn with the in- 

 numerable white flowers of Cerasiium arvense L., 

 and the strict rose-tinted inflorescences of Arabis 

 brachycarpa (T. and G.) Britton. 



Close observers have already remarked that the 

 older settlements in Quebec exhibit unusual floristic 

 features which should be attributed to historical fac- 

 tors. The first settlers, the missionaries, the "Me- 

 decins du Roi," the nuns, were far from being 

 minus habens and the gardens inside the palisade 

 usually contained the best drug plants in favor at 

 the time. When cultivation happened to cease on 

 that particular spot, the plants had very often gained 

 a strong foothold and were able to persist for cen- 

 turies. A striking example of this is the abundance 

 and pcrsistance to date of Serapias helleborine L., 

 on Mount Royal, Montreal Island, the only in- 

 stance of an introduced orchidaceous plant that I 

 know of. 



On Isle-aux-Coudres we have observed an ex- 

 traordinary abundance of Boraginaceae: Echium 

 vulgare L., Cynoglossuni officinale L., Echinosper- 



mum Lappula Lehmm., Myosotis laxa Lehm., Lith- 

 ospermum arvense L. and others. The peculiarity 

 can be noted about Quebec city and Mr. M. L. 

 Fernald finds the same to be true of the old Gaspe 

 settlements. 



H^osc^amus niger L. which we found rooted in 

 the beach gravels on the southern side is evidently 

 another introduction traceable to the drug-garden of 

 early days. Singularly enough our field experience 

 with this plant in Quebec has shown it to occur 

 mainly on island beaches of historical famj: Ih des 

 Soeurs (Chateauguay), He Sainte-Helene (Mont- 

 real), Isle-aux-Coudres. Moreover, it has been 

 noted that this weed introduced into New England 

 by early settlers and recorded there as far back as 

 1672, has almost completely disappeared. It is a 

 remarkable fact, adds Mr. M. L. Fernald,'' that 

 in Quebec, all along the St. Lawrence river, it is 

 maintaining its own and its weed-character. 



Tragopogon pratensis L. is common about build- 

 ings at Isle-aux-Coudres. It seems to be an intro- 

 duction of the same class. The only other locality 

 I know of in Quebec is about the base of Beloeil 

 Mountain where it thrives in the old orchards. 



Owing to the lack of sodium chloride in the sur- 

 rounding waters the halophytes are few. Fucus 

 vesiculosus L., however, is very abundant on the 

 slanting rocks of the tidal shores, and is almost 

 wholly relied upon as a fertilizer for potato fields. 

 A scanty colony of Cakile edentula (Bigel) Hook., 

 and a few bluish rosettes of Mertensia maritima 

 (L.) S. F. Gray, were found among purpoise offal 

 at the Pointe-de I'lslet. 



We have as yet said nothing of the trees and 

 shrubs; these have intentionally been kept for the 

 end. The first thing a botanist is likely to look for 

 when setting foot on Isle-aux-Coudres is the Hazel- 

 nut (Corylus rostrata Ait.^ from which the place 

 (Vysle es Coudres of Cartier) has derived its name. 

 And yet, we have searched in vain for it all around. 

 My friend, Jean-Bautiste Desgagne a most im- 

 portant man, simultaneously farmer, postmaster, cap- 

 tain and sexton informs me that he faintly re- 

 members having seen one small bush in his youth 

 but he is not sure! There is some dif- 

 ficulty to reconcile this fact with Jacques Cartier's 

 assertion which runs thus: . . . . et entre au- 

 tres il l; a plusieurs couldres tranches fort chargees 

 de noisilles aussi grosses et d'une meilleure saveur 

 que les notres, mais un peu plus dures. Et par cela 

 nommasmes ^sle-es-couldres."^ 



Abbe Casgrain, presumably solely on Cartier's 

 authority reasserts the same: "Comme au temps 



cFernald, M. L., Notes from the Phaenogamic 

 Herbarium, I. Rhodora XII: 191, 1910. 



TCf. Brief recit et succincte narration, etc., of 

 Cartier, 1545. Manu.script in tlie British Museum. 



