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tionally early spring of 1936, the hepatica appeared on March 24; 
even in late seasons, as in 1934 and 1937, it comes into flower dur- 
ing the first week in April. Claytonia, Trollius laxus, bloodroot, 
Corema, and Caltha follow within the succeeding week. The third 
week in April ordinarily brings in Saxifraga virginiensis, Chamae- 
daphne, Mertensia, Epigaea, Ranunculus hispidus, Anemonella, and 
Trillium grandiflorum. By the first of May the following addi- 
tional species are in bloom: rhodora, Helonias bullata, Coptis, 
Kalmia polifolia, Erythronium, Arctostaphylos, Leiophyllum, Viola 
fimbriatula and 1”, pedata, and Trillium erectum. The middle of 
May usually sees the Local Flora at its best with the added flower- 
ing of most of the woodland plants and the early species of the 
sand-barren and serpentine areas (Fig. 3). 
The accompanying drawings by Miss Maud H. Purdy, of the 
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Staff, were made from plants flowering 
in April or May of this year in the Local Flora Section, with the 
exception of the two orchids (Figs. 11b and 11), which were in 
bud on June 1. The underground portions have been carefully 
delineated in order to show the problems involved in transplanting. 
With the exception of the cardinal flower, violets, the native colum- 
bine, Dicentra eximia, Arenaria caroliniana, and most asters and 
goldenrods, the native plants do not reproduce readily from seeds 
m the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This may be due partly to the 
faulty atmospheric conditions to be found in the center of a large 
city, but the writer suspects that even under the best conditions de- 
pendence must be made on collected plants or nursery-grown stock 
rather than upon a general attempt to grow wild plants from seeds. 
It is also believed that the texture and drainage of the soil is far 
more important than its acid or alkaline content, although the chemi- 
cal nature may play a larger part where soil and plants have had 
centuries to reach an equilibrium. But plants of the heath family 
invariably require a non-caleareous soil, though they are not infre- 
quently found growing wild on the leached soil overlying lime- 
stone rocks, 
The following species have not as yet been grown successfully 
in the Local Flora Section: 
Woodland species of Lycopodium, with the exception of the 
shiny club-moss, L. lucidulwm, The other woodland species pro- 
