CLARK ON THE FLORA OF EATON COUNTY. 51 



NOTES ON THE FLORA OF EATON COUNTY. 



HUBERT LYMAN CLARK. 



The country around Olivet is such as to afford attractive hunting 

 grounds to the botanist and during the few weeks in the spring of 

 1900, when I was able to devote some time to the examination of it, it 

 yielded a number of plants that were of interest to me and some that 

 were of sufficient interest to warrant their being recorded. From a list 

 of more than 70 plants which specially interested me, I have selected 

 the following as being the most notable. In the selection of these 

 forms and indeed in the identification of many species which puzzled 

 me especiallv among the sedges, I am under great obligations to Prof. 

 C. F. Wheeler. 



There are four particular spots near Olivet, which have proved es- 

 pecially interesting and a few words in regard to these will make my 

 notes more intelligible. First of all there is the Lake Region, as I shall 

 call it, an area of low land, much of it in tamarack, lying southwest of 

 the college and extending several miles. It includes Pine Lake, Gar- 

 field Lake and Kenyon Lake, the latter two being close together. In 

 some parts of this region the ground is higher and is cultivated or 

 supports a growth of oak or beech woods. In the drier soil, such plants 

 occur as Ihe purple cudweed {GnaphaJium purpurcum), the cream-colored 

 wild pea {Lathyrus ochroleucus) , the rough alum-root (Hcucliera hispkla), 

 the hoary puccoon {LitJiospennum canescens) and the spiderwort (Trades- 

 cantia virr/inica), while in the swampy ground are found the wild rose- 

 mary {Andromeda poIifoUa), the low birch {Betula piiinila) the yellow 

 birch {Betula lutea) and the showy lady's slipper {Cypripedium spectabile). 

 This region was beyond question the most interesting of any which I 

 visited and rei)aid every visit. — Next in interest is a partially cleared, 

 tamarack swamp directly west from the village cemetery, and which 

 I will call the West Sivamp. Beyond it the ground is slightly raised 

 and rolling and is covered with woods, chiefly oak. In the swampy 

 ground are found the cuckoo-flower {Cardamhie pratense), the swamp 

 A-alerian {YaJerUina sj/lratica), the sea-side arrow-grass {Trif/lochin mar- 

 itima) and the sheathed cotton-grass {Eriophorum vaginatum). In the 

 dry woods characteristic plants are the tall tickseed {Coreopsis tripteris) 

 and the pale Indian plantain (Cacalia atriplicifolia.) — The third region 

 of special ijiterest is along the track of the Chicago and Grand Trunk 

 Railway, between Olivet station and Bellevue. In this neighborhood, 

 characteristic plants are the prostrate amaranth {Amaranthns bUtoides) 

 and the A^ellow and purple goats-beard {Tragopoqon pratensis and porri- 

 folius), the two last being very conspicuous. — Finally the village mill 

 pond, and the sluggish stream that enters it afford some plants of 

 interest. The pond, especially at the upper end, was literally almost 

 covered with the stiff white water-crowfoot {Ranunculus aquatilis stag- 

 natilis), which I did not find elsewhere, while the common white species 

 (R. a. tricophijllus) was not seen at all. Along the banks of the pond's 



