REPORT OF TTTE STATE T.OTANIST IQIO 69 



Ground in woods or in bushy places. August to September. 

 Common. 



This, like other puff balls, is edible only while the flesh is clear 

 white. When it assumes a yellow hue it is no longer palatable and 

 when it becomes dry and dusty with the mature spores no one would 

 tliink of eating it. In the edible state the texture and color of the 

 tiesh of this species may be compared to those of a very fine grained 

 soft cottage cheese. 



CRANBERRY AND AVERYMLLE MARSHES 

 Cranberry marsh is in the eastern part of the town of Sand Lake, 

 Rensselaer county. It is an irregular oblong marsh apparently 

 about a half mile long and one-fifth mile broad in its widest part. A 

 sluggish stream flows centrally through its longest diameter. 

 Sphagnum moss is plentiful and forms a soft carpet over most of 

 its surface. Cranberries were formerly produced on it in great 

 abundance, but now these plants are limited to the banks of the 

 stream and a few of the more wet and boggy places. The surface 

 of the marsh is mostly much more firm than it was sixty years ago. 

 Shrubs are more numerous and widespread and small coniferous 

 trees have sprung up in some of the older parts. Some of the 

 orchids that l)eautified the marsh less than twenty-five years ago 

 have now nearly or quite disappeared. The purple fringed orchis 

 is no longer found there, and of the white fringed orchis only a sin- 

 gle flowering specimen was seen in my recent visits. The bladder- 

 fruited or bottle sedge, which formerly lx)re seed freely there, has 

 now become smaller, less vigorous and completely sterile. The 

 changed conditions induced by the destruction of the surrounding 

 forests and the often recurring summer drouths are gradually 

 exterminating those plants that require a more uniform temperature 

 and constant moisture. The advancing shrubs crowd out or over- 

 power the weaker and less persistent herbaceous plants. This 

 marsh is steadily approaching the shrubby stage in which sphagnum 

 and marsh herbs will scarcely be able to maintain their existence. 

 The number of species of flowering plants and ferns found in this 

 marsh is 76. 



Averyville marsh is in the town of North Elba, Essex county. It 

 is about three miles south of Lake Placid. It is apparently about 

 one mile long and one-third mile broad in its widest part. Near 

 the middle it is much more narrow than toward either end by 

 reason of the encroachment of the forest on both sides. This con- 



