30 ADDISONIA 
to the attention of those whose occupations are along the tidal 
rivers and bays, and in some districts it is familiarly known to the 
bay men as Marsh Elder, colloquialized to ‘‘ Mash Elder.” 
The flowers are inconspicuous and do not attract notice, but at 
seedtime it becomes a thing of beauty. Its earlier sombre aspect 
is brightened then into a silvery whiteness, the crowded panicles 
upbearing myriads of lustrous silky tufts in size and form like an 
artist’s delicate water-color pencil, whence the name pencil bush. 
At fuller maturity these tufts become more cottony and finally, 
with the released achenes, are wafted by the winds over the marshes. 
This is always very late in the season, for this shrub is one of our 
latest-flowering species. 
EUGENE P. BICKNELL. 
EXPLANATION OF Pate. Fig. 1.—Fruiting branch. Fig. 2,—Staminate 
flowers. Fig. 3.—Pistillate flowers. 
