222 A BUNCH OF HERBS. 



time give it another lift, so that it is slowly but surely 

 making its way inland. The bugloss belongs to 

 what may be called beautiful weeds, despite its rough 

 and bristly stalk. Its flowers are deep violet-blue, 

 the stamens exserted, as the botanists say, that is, 

 projected beyond the mouth of the corolla, with 

 Bhowy red anthers. This bit of red, mingling with 

 the blue of the corolla, gives a very rich, warm pur- 

 ple hue to the flower, that is especially pleasing at a 

 little distance. The best thing I know about this 

 weed besides its good looks is that it yields honey or 

 pollen to the bee. 



Another foreign plant that the Esopus Creek has 

 distributed along its shores and carried to the Hudson 

 is saponaria, known as " Bouncing Bet." It is a 

 common, and, in places, a troublesome weed in this 

 valley. Bouncing Bet is. perhaps, its English name, 

 as the pink -white complexion of its flowers with 

 their perfume and the coarse, robust character of the 

 plant really give it a kind of English feminine come- 

 liness and bounce. It looks like a Yorkshire house- 

 maid. Still another plant in nay section, which I no- 

 tice has been widely distributed by the agency of 

 water, is the spiked loosestrife (L. salicaria). It first 

 appeared many years ago along the Wallkill ; now it 

 may be seen upon many of its tributaries, and all 

 along its banks, and in many of the marshy bays and 

 coves along the Hudson, its great masses of purple- 

 red bloom in middle and late summer affording a 

 welcome relief to the traveler's eye. It also belongs 



