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THE VEGETATION OF THE HACKENSACK MARSH: A TYPICAL AMERICAN FEN 



most abundant birds of the meadow and use the reeds as dormitories. These 

 birds perch in long lines on roadside telegraph wires above the marsh.* 



Associated with these three plants, varying here and there in abundance, 

 is the rose-mallow. Hibiscus Moscheutos, which glorifies the grassy stretches 

 in August with numerous large rose-pink to white flowers. The arrow-leaf, 

 Sagittaria latifolia, is found in standing water everywhere in the area. Scirpus 

 cyperinus, Spartina cynosuroides (Fig. lo), are abundantly associated with 

 the taller plants, forming the same layer of growth. The Turk's-cap Hly, 

 Lilium superbum, noted by me in full flower on August 6, 1916, is not uncom- 

 mon. The three-seeded mercury, Acalypha virginica, is a rare fen species, but 

 Impatiens bijiora, the spotted touch-me-not, is extremely common in shady 

 places. Three members of the carrot family, Umbellifer^, seem at home in 

 the wet muck, viz., the water hemlock, Cicuta maculata, Sium cicutafolium, 

 and the low Plilimnium capillaceum, which seems to increase as the brackish 

 part of the marsh is approached. The Indian hemp, Apocynum cannabinum, 

 is common, along with the showy swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata var. 

 pulchra, visited by thousands of butterflies. The hedge bindweed. Convolvulus 

 septum, climbs up the tall grasses and cattails, while the dodder, Cuscuta com- 

 pacta, is parasitic on goldenrod. Two species of Lycopus (see Hst) are found in 

 the marsh. The Hackensack fen is brightened in early September by the 

 flowers of Bidens IcBvis, massed in bright golden patches, which, with the whites 

 and pinks of the rose-mallow, Hibiscus Moscheutos (Fig. 9), and other plants 

 with conspicuous colors (asters, goldenrod), turn the fenland into a wonderful 

 flower-garden. 



The ferns of the marshy swales are Osmunda regalis (Fig. 11), Onoclea 

 sensibilis, Aspidium Thelypteris. The water of some of the drainage ditches is 

 covered with floating duckweed, Lemna minor (Fig. 8), and several species 

 of Potamogeton occur. The bladderwort, Utricularia intermedia (Fig. 12), 

 filled a ditch with its bright yellow flowers on July 15, 19 16. 



Other taller grasses associated with the dominant ones are Calamagrostis 

 canadensis, Echinochloa Walteri, and Spartina cynosuroides (in fresh-water 

 marsh) (Fig. 10). 



Care. Formation. — The woody plants of the Hackensack fenland are 



* McAiee, W. L.: Three Important Duck Foods. Circular No. 81, Bureau of Biological Sur- 

 vey, Sept. 9, 191 1 : Five Important Wild Duck Foods, Bulletin 58, U. S. Dept. of Agri.; Eleven 

 Important Wild Duck Foods, Bulletin 205, U. S. Dept. of Agri., May 20, 1915. 



