A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. 63 
to wrap a chain around it. The rock seems poised 
lightly, and has but a few points of bearing. In this 
instance, too, the power had come from the north. 
The prettiest botanical specimen my trip yielded 
was a little plant that bears the ugly name of horned 
bladderwort (Utmcularia cornuta), and which I 
found growing in marshy places along the shores of 
Moxie Lake. It has a slender, naked stem nearly a 
foot high, crowned by two or more large deep yellow 
flowers, — flowers the shape of little bonnets or hoods. 
One almost expected to see tiny faces looking out of 
them. This illusion is heightened by the horn or spur 
of the flower, which projects from the hood like a long 
tapering chin, — some masker’s device. Then the 
cape behind, —what a smart upward curve it has, 
as if spurned by the fairy shoulders it was meant to 
cover! But perhaps the most notable thing about the 
flower was its fragrance, — the richest and strongest 
perfume I have ever found in a wild flower. This 
our botanist, Gray, does not mention, as if one should 
describe the lark and forget its song. The fragrance 
suggested that of white clover, but was more rank and 
spicy. 
The woods about Moxie Lake were literally carpet- 
ed with Linnea. I had never seen it in such profu- 
sion. In early summer, the period of its bloom, what 
a charming spectacle the mossy floors of these remote 
woods must present! The flowers are purple rose- 
color, nodding and fragrant. Another very abundant 
plant in these woods was the Clintonia borealis. 
Uncle Nathan said it was called “ bear’s corn,” though 
he did not know why. The only noticeable flower by 
the Maine roadsides at this season that is not common 
in other parts of the country is the harebell. Its 
