Around the " Pond " First Excursion 



the purple-leaved beech, a mere variety of the European 

 form, said to have been discovered by a clergyman in a 

 German forest. A cluster of four can be seen on the 

 right after crossing the bridge. The dark color is 

 deepest in spring and summer, but largely " burns off' 7 

 by fall, when the green is but slightly tinged. The 

 foreign beech is recognized by its smaller, rounder and 

 scarcely serrate leaf. The base of the trunk is but- 

 tressed by spreading roots even in a small beech more 

 than in any other tree. 



EUROPEAN ALDER. Darkly rising from the water's 

 margin its congenial situation both at the Pond and 

 the Lake, is the alder, a gloomy but effective tree : not 

 a native growth, but from Europe, for our own alders 

 are only shrubs. It is ominous-looking in so sombre 

 hue, and sure to attract attention either in winter with 

 its branches thickly hung with black cone-like fruit, and 

 blackish bark, or in summer, luxuriant in dusky foliage. 

 The leaf is much like that of native alders thickish, 

 oval and sharply serrate not a handsome type, yet one 

 that masses up finely in suitable situations. In early 

 spring the alder is conspicuous for its abundance of long, 

 slender yellowish catkins. Although this is a primitive 

 mode of inflorescence, it sometimes is strikingly effec- 

 tive, coming as it often does, especially in birches, al- 

 ders and willows, before the leaves develop. Indeed, 

 one will rarely see a more beautiful view of its kind 

 than a white birch in early May, laden with slender 

 yellow tassels, like a rain of gold ; no ornate blossoms 

 could be more pleasing, the effect being heightened by 



