THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 81 
in all the boggy clay soils of the Peninsula. Its long pendan 
branches distinguish it from all other species. 
No less than five species of Hickory rear their stately forms in 
close proximity to Niagara Falls. The three edible species are 
(Carya alba, tomentosa, and microcarpa), while the Broom Hickory 
(Carya porcina) and the Bitternut Hickory (Carya amara) have 
fruit that are seldom eaten except by boys when in extremity. 
Two flowering trees that are almost peculiar to the district 
should be mentioned, the Flowering Dog-wood (Cornus florida), 
which may be seen bordering the forest from Niagara to Sarnia, and 
the Tulip Tree (Lirtodendron Tulipifera) which carries the mind 
into the tropics, when one of these trees is seen, in the open fields 
about the rst of July, of a pyramidal form and covered with gorgeous 
flowers. Such trees are not uncommon in the open fields in Elgin 
and Essex. Many other trees claim attention in the neighborhood 
of Niagara, but we may only mention the Sycamore or Buttonwood 
(Platanus occidentalis) which, whether we consider its size, its leaves 
or its deciduous bark, can claim a passing notice. It is unique in our 
forests and indeed is without a relative in North America, and as Dr. 
Gray puts it in his manual, as being of uncertain relationship to any of 
the modern trees. It is therefore, very likely, a remnant from a dead 
past, and when seen should remind us that our time is but a frag- 
ment of the earth’s life: that this solitary tree proves that time 
in covering the earth with beautiful forms was not limited to years, 
but that one age succeeded another, and as the conditions changed 
the then-existing forms changed with their environment, retaining 
their vigor, or died out and gave place to others more in accord with 
changed conditions. 
While collecting planis on the islands in the Niagara River I 
came upon immense quantities of Mezereum (Daphne Mezereum), 
and as it is a European shrub it is of more than passing interest. 
Flowering in the early spring with the Hepaticas, Dirca and other early 
blossoms, one would think that our climate would not suit it, and that 
in a year or two it would disappear. On the contrary it forms much of 
the undergrowth on one of the islands, and I question much if any cit- 
izen of Hamilton has ever seen it in city gardens. It has also been 
found in woods close to Ottawa, and on Montreal Mountain, but in 
neither case has a hint been given how the first specimens originated. 
The old French occupation may have had something to do with it. 
