Around the * Pond ”—First Excursion 
the purple-leaved beech, a mere variety of the European 
form, said to have been discovered by a clergyman in a 
German forest. A cluster of four can be seen on the 
right after crossing the bridge. The dark color is 
deepest in spring and summer, but largely ‘‘ burns off’’ 
by fall, when the green is but slightly tinged. The 
foreign beech is recognized by its smaller, rounder and 
scarcely serrate leaf. The base of the trunk is but- 
tressed by spreading roots even in asmall beech more 
than in any other tree. 
EvuRoPeAN ALDER.—Darkly rising from the water’s 
margin—its congenial situation—both at the Pond and 
the Lake, is the alder, a gloomy but effective tree: not 
a native growth, but from Europe, for our own alders 
are only shrubs. It is ominous-looking in so sombre 
hue, and sure to attract attention either in winter with 
its branches thickly hung with black cone-like fruit, and 
blackish bark, or in summer, luxuriant in dusky foliage. 
The leaf is much like that of native alders—thickish, 
oval and sharply serrate—not a handsome type, yet one 
that masses up finely in suitable situations. In early 
spring the alder is conspicuous for its abundance of long, 
slender yellowish catkins. Although this is a primitive 
mode of inflorescence, it sometimes is strikingly effec- 
tive, coming as it often does, especially in birches, al- 
ders and willows, before the leaves develop. Indeed, 
one will rarely see a more beautiful view of its kind 
than a white birch in early May, laden with slender 
yellow tassels, like a rain of gold; no ornate blossoms 
could be more pleasing, the effect being heightened by 
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