54- THE PLANT WORLD. 



know much of the vernal flora. This, however, is a mistake. The 

 flowers bloom here as early as they do in the same latitude inland, and 

 while the species may not be so numerous, the lack is abundantly 

 made up by the multitude of individuals. Plants in bloom are very 

 noticeable. This is due principally to the fact that when the soil is 

 right for the growth of a species, that species usually occurs in quan- 

 tity, and the absence of other vegetation allows the flowers to show to 

 the best advantage. For this same reason, masses of color are the 

 rule. To find areas spangled with the blossoms of several species is 

 quite exceptional. 



In late May the Lupine season was at its height, and the Bird's- 

 foot Violets were striving to escape eclipse. Since each kept to its 

 particular area, the task was not as difficult as it might have been. 

 Yellow, however, is the favorite color of the barrens. Of the species 

 which gave color characteristics to the landscape, ten were yellow, 

 four were white and four blue. The Rock-rose ( HeliantJiemuin ) — a 

 long way from its rocks — was easily the leader. In the dry places its 

 yellow blossoms — much larger than inland — fairly glowed with color. 

 Everywhere, the gray firmament of Cladonia was sprinkled with these 

 tiny suns. For once the Dandelion found itself displaced. There 

 Potentillas and the bulbous Buttercup were found in better soil, and in 

 the thin grass along roadsides the Star-grass was plentiful. The 

 Hudsonia has a characteristic color of its own at any season, but in 

 early June a golden glow comes upon it from the multitude of its 

 tiny blossoms. 



Of white flowers, the Beach Plum was most noticeable. At some 

 distance the low thickets looked like banks of white mist. The Choke- 

 berry {Aronia) — more common but less noticeable — silvered the bar- 

 rens in many places. Besides Lupines and Bird's-foot Violets, the 

 Blue-eyed Grass and the blue Linaria were conspicuous. The lat- 

 ter likes to grow on the sandy ridges along the sprawling cross-coun- 

 try roads, but never becoming as tiresome to the eye as its coarse 

 yellow relative, the Toad-flax. It may be doubted whether one can 

 see the Blue-eyed Grass at its best, except in the barrens. Nowhere 

 else have I seen the flowers in such profusion. Here and there the 

 roadside seems invested with a blue haze from their numbers. Taken 

 singly the blossoms seem out of place on the grass-like scape, and one 

 may imagine them to be flowers from some other plant that have 

 climbed up the grass-blades, to have a better look at the world. 



In the sand-barrens much of the more noticeable color is not pro- 

 duced by flowers. I have referred to the Hudsonia and Cladonia, but 

 the dark, shining green of the Bear-berry {Arctostaphylos) and the 

 silvery gray of the Mouse-ear Plantain ( Antennaria) are equally 



