MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 107 



or three Avorthy of notice. Hydrocolyle umbellata shares AA'ith the tiny 

 Selaginella apus in carpeting the 'damp surface. Along the cold brooks a 

 powerfully scented species, Berula erecta, grows in mats and fringes. Of 

 the odor nothing is said in the books. Its small flowers remind of cara- 

 way. Gentiana crinita is an occasional plant, but the soil of these bogs 

 does not cause the unlimited numbers seen in the wet sandy depressions of 

 Lake county, Ind. Mimulus ringens is a pretty plant when left to its boggy 

 haunts, but a failure as a bouquet flower. Lobelia kalmii dots the green 

 with its small blue eyes, and adds greatly to the charm of the place. Nabulus 

 racemosus and Lacinaria spicata complete the list. 



The tamarack and blueberry marshes are almost invariably one and the 

 same, the proj:)ortions of the two species varying from practical sole occu- 

 pancy to a half and half arrangement. These swamps are very common, 

 and afford no small revenue to the owners in berries and telephone poles. 

 The flora is not large because of the dense growth of the dominant species, 

 but a few varieties only are found here. Sphagnum is always abundant, 

 and in itself keeps doAvn much plant growth. 



The Vacciniums are three, or possibly four, those furnishing the bulk of 

 the berries 1:)eing Y. corymbosum and V. atrococcum, the latter very dis- 

 tinct, and strange it is that it was so long overlooked. A white form of 

 corymbosmn is occasional and of superior ciualit)^ Certain other shrubs 

 are certain to appear in admixture. Aronia nigra simulates in leaf Vac- 

 cinium so weW that one looks twice to be siu'e. Iltcoides is occasional and 

 very neat and pretty, especially in fruit. Prunus Pennsylvanica is frequent 

 but not really at home. Smilax hispida occurs only in such places and is 

 excessively rare. Certain willows are common and one, Salix serissima, 

 was long overlooked as simply S. lucida, but the two are strikingly distinct. 

 S. Bebbiana is ever present, but not peculiar to these swamps, for its favorite 

 haimts are shores and wet lands generally. 



Among herbaceous forms Wood wardia is common and striking and grows 

 associated with a shrub overlooked in the above list but very al)undant, 

 forming such dense mats thai passage except over the tops is almost pro- 

 hibited. This shrub is Chamsedaphne, and in April is a pretty sight with 

 its wealth of white racemes. Growing with it and commonly overlooked, 

 is Andromeda polifolia, a very much more rare form. Cypripedium acaule 

 is found, and always associated with the scattered pines found in these 

 marshes. This association holds good also in Indiana where this species 

 has been found by the writer. The paucity of herbs is thus strikingly shown, 

 for the above practically exhausts the list. 



There is another form of marsh found intermixed with the above, but 

 strikingly different, and seemingly because its drainage is more perfect. 

 Sphagnum giving place to Fontanalis and other water loving mosses, and 

 the vegetation being much more of a mixture. While an occasional Vac- 

 cinium is observed, the shrubs are generally willows, Spirea salicifolia, rosa 

 Carolina, with here and there knolls supporting Populus tremuloides and 

 Rhus vernix. The herbs are a heterogeneous mass of Pol_vgonums, P. sag- 

 ittatum, P. hydropiperoides, P. emersum, Rumex Brittanica, with here and 

 there Asplenium thelypteris, great clumps of Osmunda cinnamomea and 

 various swamp asters, the w^hole forming a most trying crbstacle to smooth 

 and easy pedestrianism. 



On the borders of these marshes are found a number of peculiar species. 

 The soil is rich, black and moist with much shade given b}^ elms, poplars 

 and swamp Avhite oaks and black gums. Here an occasional Cypripedium 



