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Native Wild Flower Garden (Local Flora Section) 
Walking south past Mt. Prospect Reservoir (on the right) one 
comes to the entrance to the Native Wild Flower Garden. 
This section contains only plants that grow wild within a radius 
of too miles of Brooklyn. This indicates roughly the ‘“ Local 
Flora Range” which is defined by the Torrey Botanical Club as 
including all of the State of Connecticut; Long Island; in New 
York State, the counties bordering the Hudson River on both sides 
up to and including Columbia and Greene, also Sullivan and Dela- 
ware Counties; all of New Jersey; and, in Pennsylvania, the coun- 
ties of Pike, Wayne, Monroe, Lackawanna, Luzerne, North- 
ampton, Lehigh, Carbon, Bucks, Berks, Schuylkill, Montgomery, 
Philadelphia, Delaware, and Chester. 
Native trees have been planted in the northern end of this sec- 
tion so as to secure the ecological conditions of a small forest or 
“woods.” This facilitates the growing of many species which are 
usually found growing wild only in such environment. 
ear the southern end of the area is a small bog. A bog 
differs from a swamp in that the water of the former contains a 
much larger percentage of humic acid than does the latter, and 
certain plants, such as Cranberries, Sphagnum Moss, Pitcher 
Plants, and others, prefer an acid substratum. This difference in 
acidity results from the fact that a swamp has both inlet and out- 
let (water flowing through it), while a bog has an inlet (water 
flowing into it), but no outlet, except through evaporation into the 
air. It is this that results in a concentration of humic acid, just 
as evaporation (and no streams flowing out) makes the Dead Sea 
and the ocean salt. The humic acid results from the decay of 
plant tissue, caused by the action of bacteria. 
Woodland plants may be found on either side of the Wild 
Flower Path along the crest of the West Border Mound, as well as 
in the “ valley ’’ or main portion of this Section. 
After walking south through the Wild Flower Garden one comes 
out near the 
Lilac Triangle 
The Lilac collection was at first confined to this triangular area, 
but has since been extended northward as part of the Horticultural 
