410 JN'oiJce of some rare and beautiful Plants 



Art. III. J^otice of some rare and beautiful Plants found in 

 Hubbardston, Mass., during the months of May, June, July 

 and August, 1837. By John Lewis Russell, Prof. Bot. 

 and Veg. Physiol, to the Mass. Hort. Soc. 



There is scarcely a subject connected with vegetation so in- 

 teresting as the local and geographical distribution of plants, 

 whether considered in relation to a wider or more limited field 

 of observation. The distance of a few miles, or the difi'erence 

 of soil, will produce an astonishing effect. A very limited area 

 will comprise the entire amount of a species to be found in a 

 county or section. Nor does there seem any particular reason 

 existent why such should be the case. The collector is often- 

 times agreeably surprised by the occurrence of a single individ- 

 ual of exceeding rarity, or by the discovery of some oasis of 

 great interest, amid the long and patiently investigated track of 

 his former labors. A little group of such favorites will continue 

 to thrive in their loneliness for years, unvisited, perhaps, by any 

 but himself, and then suddenly disappear, to give way to others 

 more congenial to the spot. Others will be found in luxuriant 

 abundance in localities far remote from the scene of their first 

 observation; and others, again, following man, like some of the 

 higher orders of animated creation, hover with a seeming instinct- 

 ive association around the scene of his enterprise, under every 

 change and circumstance. Nor can any, unexperienced in these 

 pursuits, conceive the actual degree of interest and pleasure 

 which is awakened by the occasional occurrence of some gor- 

 geous display or elegant appearance of a group of a rare plant, 

 when it bursts upon the view, for the first time, in all its native 

 character. Unlike other objects, in the economy of life, which 

 become uninteresting when they become common, these are 

 raised in our estimation. To see, under these circumstances, 

 the choicest productions of our gardens, in all their native and 

 unrestrained luxuriance — while it heightens their effect, as indi- 

 viduals of the great order of the vegetable world, detracts, in no 

 single degree, from their more humble merits when seen under 

 the fostering care of the skilful florist. We should prize a 

 feathery palm none the less, when under the sheltering roof of 

 the conservatory, in solitary beauty and sterility, as a specimen, 

 and as an individual, because it reminds of those gigantic, tower- 

 ing, and wide-spreading forests of oriental climes, where these 

 "princes of the vegetable world" thrive in their native glory. 



During a short residence in the vicinity of Wachusett Moun- 

 tain I made careful observation of the flora of the immediate 

 region. I was fortunate in meeting with a friend and lover of 

 science, in cooperation with whom I collected many plants, some 



