234 Dog-Trotting for OrcKids 



region towered everywhere among the woods; and low 

 beautiful plants of the Yellow Gerardia were in full 

 bloom. As I rounded the slope, below the Rock, I 

 collected a fine specimen of the gorgeously colored 

 Orange Butterfly-Weed, or Pleurisy-Root {Asclepias 

 tuberosa), of the Milkweed Family. In the swamp 

 farther south on the Orange Mountains, I have for- 

 merly collected the Swamp Milkweed flowers, which 

 are similar to Butterfly-Weed, save that they are of a 

 delicate rose-purple color. Our common species north- 

 ward is the Purple- Flowered Silkweed. It grows along 

 our roadside walls and river banks, and its tender 

 leaves are used as greens, proving very delicious food. 



I sat some time on the hillside under Eagle Rock, 

 recalling the various flowers collected along the North- 

 field Road the year past. Llewellyn and Hutton Parks, 

 along these summits, are always fragrant with blos- 

 soms in May and June. I once spent a holiday in 

 Pleasant Valley beyond St. Cloud, in May and June, 

 collecting among other flowers the beautiful Tulip-Tree 

 blossoms {Liriodendron Tulipifera), which some lads 

 graciously gathered for me. 



The swamps and woods about this vale produce 

 about the same species of flowers and trees as the hills 

 of Mosholu and Lowerre above New York City — marsh 

 marigolds, violets, anemones, dogwoods, and glowing 

 apple orchards that one does not soon forget. One rare 

 flower, however, graces the Orlando Williams Swamp 

 in Pleasant Valley that I find nowhere else. It is the 

 Painted-Cup {Castilleja coccined) of the Figwort Family. 



