1904] Relationship between Weather and Plant Growth. 53 



blossoming" in the latter part of April (the 30th), furnishes many 

 in May and June. The earlier plants of spring are mostly wood- 

 land or (generally rather later) swamp plants ; which, not requir- 

 ing much heat, find the moist and shady woods or the cool, wet 

 swamps a favorable habitat. Such are, for the woods, the violets, 

 the lilies, the early poppies, the saxifrages and mitreworts, straw- 

 berries and hepaticas ; and for the swamps and wet places, many 

 orchids, irises, cresses and speedwells, etc. Towards the end of 

 spring the flower-lover will find the woods comparatively bare of 

 flowering species and will turn to the sunny shores of lake and 

 river, both in the water and on land, where will greet him water 

 plants of many kinds, and spiraeas, button-bush, St. John's wort, 

 loosestrifes, bluebells, epilobiums ; and to the clearings, the fields 

 and roadsides, where he will find roses, raspberries, peas and 

 clovers, and finally mallows, mints, gerardias, lobelias, gentians, 

 thistles, beggar-ticks, sunflowers, golden-rods, asters, and in 

 short all those highly-developed plants which delight to bask in 

 the direct rays of the sun. 



The weeds, with very few exceptions, are late bloomers,' 

 which may be explained by the fact that they are mostly annuals, 

 springing from the seed which has lain dormant until awakened 

 by the warmth of spring. There is therefore considerable growth 

 necessary before flowers can be produced and this takes time. The 

 following weeds, however, I found blooming in April : the Euro- 

 pean strawberry, shepherd's purse, Buxbaum's speedwell and the 

 dandelion. Of these the strawberry and dandelion are perennials 

 that bloom continually throughout the season, and only suspend 

 growth while the unfavorable winter conditions last. They are 

 therefore ready to go on blooming early in spring. The shep- 

 herd's purse is a winter annual, germinating and vegetating in 

 the fall, and so ready likewise to bloom early in the spring. The 

 other weed that I found blooming in April, namely Buxbaum's 

 speedwell, may possibly also have acted as a winter annual. 



I might add that having found plants in bloom in March and 

 well on in November, there are only three months when one need 

 never look for wild flowers around Ottawa, viz., December, Janu- 

 ary and February. And I am not so sure that dandelions, or 

 sweet clover, or Lmaria linaria, popularly known as butter-and- 



