198 PEPACTOX 



Another foreign plant that the Esopus Creek has 

 distributed along its shores and carried to the Hud- 

 son 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 femi- 

 nine comeliness and bounce. It looks like a York- 

 shire housemaid. Still another plant in my section, 

 which I notice has been widely distributed by the 

 agency of water, is the spiked loosestrife. It first 

 appeared many years ago along the Wallkill; now 



V 



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 afford- 

 ing a welcome relief to the traveler's eye. It also 

 belongs to the class of beautiful weeds. It grows 

 rank and tall, in dense communities, and always 

 presents to the eye a generous mass of color. In 

 places, the marshes and creek banks are all aglow 

 with it, its wand-like spikes of flowers shooting up 

 and uniting in volumes or pyramids of still flame. 

 Its petals, when examined closely, present a curious 

 wrinkled or crumpled appearance, like newly-washed 

 linen; but when massed the effect is eminently 

 pleasing. It also came from abroad, probably first 

 brought to this country as a garden or ornamental 

 plant. 



As a curious illustration of how weeds are carried 



