236 Bo^-Trotting for Orchids 



in June, 1896, I found the pastures full of blooming 

 briar-roses, and the meadows waving with white daisies 

 and golden arnica. The latter flower is replaced in the 

 meadows of the Hoosac Highlands by great patches of 

 the Devil's Paint-Brush or Orange Hawkweed {Hiera- 

 cium aurantiacum), an emigrant weed from Europe, 

 which is very pretty and fragrant. The Purple Gerardia 

 (^Gerardia purpurea), the Blue Lobelias {Lobelia syphi- 

 litica), and Lobelia spicata grow abundantly in Pownal- 

 on-the-Hoosac in June. 



As I passed homeward through the Salt Meadows, 

 beyond Newark, on the new Plank Road to Desbrosses 

 Ferry, I began to observe the large pink-purple blos- 

 soms of the Swamp Rose-Mallow {Hibiscus Moscheutos) 

 and the Marsh-Mallow {Althcsa officinalis), whose roots 

 contain a mucilaginous substance, and which are closely 

 allied to our cultivated hollyhocks. I soon neared an 

 open ditch by the road, filled with blossoming Arrow- 

 Head {Sagittaria latifolia) and Pickerel-Weed {Ponte- 

 deria cordata). The former produces beautiful waxen 

 white flowers, and the latter, blue spikes of ragged 

 blossoms. Not far from this mud-hole on the dry, 

 sandy roadside, I gathered the rank-scented Jimson- 

 Weed or Thorn- Apple {Datura Stramo7iium), a poison- 

 ous emigrant weed from Asia, whose Arabic name was 

 Tatorah. It is common everywhere about these 

 regions in waste ground, as w^ell as along Kings- 

 bridge Road and Old East Chester near the City. I 

 have also observed it near the poor-house in New 

 Haven, but never in the Hoosac Valley region. 



