ALONG THE WATERWAYS 



59 



growing in rosettes, the leaves coming from a central 

 root, blushed the rose-pink, wheel-shaped flowers 

 of the American Centaury or Sabbatia, so bright 

 in hue that the near-by Salt Marsh Fleabane 

 looked dingy and overblown by contrast, while, 

 acting as a foil to 

 both of these, the 

 stiff, inflated leaf- 

 less stems of Glass - 

 wort covered the 

 ground with the 

 translucent green 

 such as we find in 

 seaweeds. 



The course of 

 every tide -ditch was 

 outlined by Cat -tail 

 Flags, rich with 

 their brown batons, which seem to give them juris- 

 diction in the world of reeds. But the Rose Mallow 

 is in Summer the landscape flower of the marshes, 

 inseparable from the scene from late July until early 

 Autumn days give precedence to yellows and pur- 

 ples, preparing the eye for Autumn leaf colors. 



All along the eastern coast, wherever water 

 courses, this Mallow, often higher than the height 



