8 Report of the State Botanist. 



learning seems to me to be a good one. In this way the stu- 

 dents, by seeing them from day to day, would become familiar 

 with the general appearance of the species, and would recognize 

 them at once if the}'^ should see the plants themselves growing 

 in their native places. There would probably be kindled in the 

 minds of some, at least, an earnest desire to know more of these 

 interesting and useful plants, and they would thus be led to 

 acquire a more extended knowledge of them. If the number of 

 our esculent species should be thought too great for such chart 

 representation, any desired number of the more common and 

 important species might be selected for this purpose. If the 

 outlay necessary to place charts in all the district schools should 

 seem too great, they might be placed at first in the high schools 

 and academies by way of experiment. 



The vegetation that grows so profusely in the shallow water 

 at the head of Lake Champlain and along its shores and dykes 

 seemed to me to be worthy of examination. This was given 

 early in July. Much of the wood}^ growth consists of willows, 

 of which the most abundant are the black willow, Salix nigra, 

 the shining willow, S. hicida, the glaucous willow, S. discolor, the 

 heart-leaved willow, S. cordata, and the brittle willow, S.fragilis. 

 All except the last are indigenous species. The green ash, 

 Fraxinus vii'idis, the silver maple, Acer dcvsycarpuTn and the red 

 maple A. ruhrum, are also plentiful. Although these are 

 moisture-loving plants, too much Avater seems to be an injury 

 rather than a benefit to some of them at least. Their roots and 

 the soil in which they grow are submerged much of the time, yet 

 the leaves of many of them are unusually small. This was 

 especially noticeable in the black willow, the shining willow and 

 the heart-leaved willow. Their peculiar habitat seems also to 

 retard development. The reddish-brown color of the young 

 leaves of the heart-leaved willow and the maples was conspicuous 

 even in July. The spiked loosestrife, Lythrum Salicaria, an 

 introduced plant which is abundant in the lower part of the 

 Hudson river valley, was growing freely in the margin of the 

 lake. This is a new station for it and the most northern one in 

 the State, though it is said to grow about the quarantine grounds 

 of Quebec. The great bullrush, Scirpus validu.% the river club- 

 rush, Scirpus fluviatilis, and the sweet flag, Acorus Calamus, 



