104 IN SILENT WOODS 



Poison Hemlock, the two plants being quite alike 

 to unaccustomed eyes ; and it is not until the flowers 

 of Sweet Cicely give place to the strongly Anise - 

 flavored seeds that any one but a botanist can 

 tamper with the roots in safety. 



Moccasin -flowers and a rare Orchis or two 

 bring alien color to the wood carpet of dead 

 leaves, Hemlock needles, Ground Pines and soft 

 Mosses ; but Orchids must flock alone and not be 

 inventoried with less usual plants. 



All this time, tight wrapped in buds of last 

 season's growth, like many shrubs of both ever- 

 green and falling leaf, the Mountain Laurel and 

 American Rhododendron are preparing their bravery, 

 the one climbing the rocky steeps of the drier 

 woods, the other seeking moist glens and always 

 keeping under high shade. 



All the year the abrupt branches and persistent 

 smooth green leaves of this Laurel have relieved 

 the monotony of gray rocks and tree -trunks. All 

 Summer the thick oval leaves act as foil to the 

 juicier greens of Ferns and fragile wood plants. 

 In Autumn, as other foliage drops away, they 

 stand revealed as evergreens, together with Christ- 

 mas Ferns, the creeping Polypody, stiff Red Cedars 

 and the sweeping Hemlocks. 



