410 Remarks on the Botany^ 6^c. of Easiport, Me. 



seeds, the rarer species of birds find ample occupation in 

 pursuit of food. 



I observed but a few species of aster and solidago. One, 

 {S. lanceolcUa,) has spread within a few years to a troublous 

 extent over the cultivated fields, and seems likely to prove 

 a considerable inconvenience on account of its strong, te- 

 nacious and tough roots. Several smaller flowers were yet 

 lingering, and blossoms, as if unwilling to relinquish their 

 claims on the admiration of the beholder — conspicuous 

 among which, with fearless daring, nodded the harebell 

 over dangerous chffs near the sea, on the horizontal shelves 

 of which was also Arena ria stricta and some species of 

 Arabis. The prickly but beautiful G^aleopsis tetratrit made 

 itself familiar even in gardens as an intruder : and in one 

 instance I found a specimen with white blossoms, in the 

 place of the usual rosy color. In the pastures, in rich 

 spots. I saw Anthemis arvensis. Sagina procumbens, also, 

 was very common. 



Two species of alder were abundant, neither of which is 

 thus distributed in such abundance in our section of coun- 

 try, ^'liius glutinosa, with glutinous, terminal leaf-buds, 

 grows down to the very water's edge, and is found among 

 rocky ledges on high hills; while the glaucous alder, (A. 

 glauca,) is substituted in wet swampy places for our J'lnus 

 serrulata, found in similar situations. Other interesting 

 shrubs, such as Ledum palustre, Kalmm glauca, Nemo- 

 panthes canadensis, several of the cornus. viburnum, &c., 

 may be found ; while species of birch, maple, fir, spruce, 

 hemlock, cedar, larch, pine, and occasionally oak, afibrd 

 sufficient study and subject of admiration at any season of 

 the year — either when spring waves their catkins in the 

 breeze or expands their cautious buds to the returning sun, 

 or summer develops their glories in dense showy foliage, 

 or autumn tints them with its rich and varied dyes. To 

 him who would seek to pass a few days or weeks in a sec- 

 tion of country where nature has done so much to beautify 

 and render grand; to the seeker, therefore, for the beautiful 

 or the picturesque; to the naturalist or to the idler, scarcely 

 a more charming place can be found than in these extreme 

 limits of Down East. 



South Hi7igham, Sept. 30, 1844. 



