VI 



The island flora interests all botanists from its peculiarity; those from 

 the interior notice first the coast plants, but from whatever part of New 

 England they come, they are surprised at the occurrence of species not 

 to be expected in this latitude between forty and fifty perhaps a large 

 number for the small region. Some belong to more northern localities, 

 but these are far less numerous than the southern plants, some of which 

 have never been found elsewhere in New England. It was a great pleas- 

 ure to several of the collectors named in the following pages to take 

 their discoveries to Dr. Gray, our heaths, smilaxes, utricularias, etc. ; he 

 said at last that he was surprised at nothing from Nantucket. 



The ocean round our shores is as prolific in rarities as the land; 

 amongst them are four species of algae not in Farlow's Manual, two of 

 them new to America. The fresh waters too are rich fields for collectors, 

 as Mr. Morong's remarks a few pages on will show. 



While many species are extremely scarce, and to be found only in the 

 depths of thickets or in most secluded spots, others grow in lovely profusion. 

 The hills are covered in the spring with sheets of houstonias and bird-foot 

 violets, followed soon by a large-flowered chick-weed, which whitens the 

 plains. The hudsonia in equal abundance follows with its gold, and that is 

 succeeded by the golden aster (Chrysopsis) and the bitter polygala giving 

 their own color to the ground, till still later the golden-rods and the liatris 

 paint the scene. The gieat carpets of the bear-berry " meal plum" in our 

 local speech always attract the eye of a botanist. On the other hand, some 

 species equally beautiful are extremely local; the sabbatia, the upright- 

 leaved St. John's wort, the hyssop-leaved hedge-nettle, the swamp hibiscus 

 and the thread-leaved sundew are examples. These are fairly abundant 

 within their narrow limits, and their locality is easily, alas! far too easily, 

 accessible. 



The Nantucket Sabbatia is called by Dr. Gray "an ambiguous form;" 

 there are other plants on the island that, to an acute observer, look differ- 

 ent from the same kinds on the main land. Whether the species have been 

 modified by long isolation, or the changes are due to more obvious causes, 

 would require closer observations than visitors can make in the few weeks of 

 their stay. The unusually bright color and large size of certain flowers have 

 often been noticed. Perhaps a study of the insects of the island in connec- 

 tion with its flowers would show the cause of these variations and of the 

 closely restricted locality of certain species, but the entomologist must ap- 

 pear soon, for the flowers are vanishing fast. Idle pleasure seekers with ruth- 

 less greed pick the sabbatia, with a determination worthy of a better cause, 

 not to leave one; the hibiscus is carried into 'Sconset by the armful, its 



