106 



a thousand years old. It is the subject of a fine painting by J. G. 

 Enneking. Other trees on the Beverly shore are quite large. One 

 measured by Mr. C. Cooke and the writer, was 7 feet 1 inch at 2 feet 

 from the ground. As a general thing the trees of this species are 

 rarely over 1 foot in diameter, and 30 feet high. 



Taxus baccata, L., var. Canadensis. (AMERICAN YEW. GROUND 

 HEMLOCK.) This pretty, low evergreen is found in the deep, damp 

 woods at Manchester, Rockport, Essex, Georgetown, and other 

 places. The English Yew is rarely cultivated. Salem, Mr. C M. 

 Richardson, as an ornamental tree. 



Many other Conifers are met with in cultivation, but none are 

 sufficiently common to require their mention in this enumeration of 

 county plants. Perhaps an exception should be made in the case of, 



Taxodium distichum, Richard. (BALD CYPRESS.) This tree is quite 

 hardy in the county. A specimen on the Derby Estate in Salem, 

 measuring in 1877, 



Circumference 10 feet 11 inches at ground. 



8 " 9 " " " 



Height 40 feet. 



There is another, not so large, in a garden on Broad St., Salem. 



SMILACEJE. 



(SMILAX Family.) 



Smilax rotundifolia, L. (COMMON GREENBRIER.) Among the 

 monocotyledons, this seems almost the only one to mention as a 

 woody plant. It is common in all parts of the county, where its 

 prickly stem is too well known to need farther notice here. 



GRAMINEJE. 



(GRASS Family.) 



Phragmites communis, Trin. (REED.) It would hardly be 

 right to omit this plant from our list, for, although not producing a 

 wood which lasts beyond one season, yet the annual stem of the Reed 

 is quite as large as many of the sterns produced by exogenous peren- 

 nials here noticed. This grass grows in Topsfleld, and was probably 

 introduced by early settlers for the sake of the stems, which were 

 used in carpet and other looms, which were then common. 



The Phragmites is a most elegant plant, growing often 10 feet high, 

 with a handsome panicle of flowers. 



