124 



The foregoing treatment of unusual items gives no concep- 

 tion of the almost tropical richness of vegetation along the 

 upper tidal reaches of the Hudson River. The broad expanse of 

 quiet water supports great stands of Typha latifolia, and Scirpus 

 validus. With these are mingled wild rice {Zizania aquatica) 

 and enormous masses of the cow lily (Nymphozanthus advena), 

 here reaching its northeastern limit except for an isolated sta- 

 tion at the mouth of the Kennebec River. The golden club 

 {Orontium aquaticum) is abundant and achieves a surprising 

 development. The small tidal tributaries, such as Stony Creek, 

 are choked by masses of Vallisneria americana, Anacharis oc- 

 cidentalism Heter anther a graminea, Myriophyllum liumile (no. 

 6430) and Potamogeton Spirillus, and I have collected the rarer 

 P. Vaseyi (no. 6274) and P. zosterifolius (no. 6271) at the 

 mouth of the Catskill on the opposite shore of the Hudson 

 River. The margins of these small streams are frequently lined 

 with Sagittaria heter ophylla, and submerged in quiet places is 

 usually an abundance of Lemna trisulca. 



Turf often occupies the shores at the high-tide limit where 

 the submergence is not so prolonged and here among other 

 plants at Stony Creek grew Juncus brachycephalus (no. 6439, 

 determined by F. J. Hermann), J. Dudleyi (no. 6027), and 

 Mentha arvensis var. glabrata (no. 6429). The asters which oc- 

 cupy the submerged zone are A. lateriflorus var. hirsuticaulis 

 (no. 6027), A. pilosus Willd. var. demotus Blake {A. ericoides of 

 Gray Man. ed. 7) (no. 6112) which is greatly dwarfed, and A. 

 puniceus L. var. firmus T. & G. (no. 6431). The last, represented 

 by narrow unbranched plants, flowers when only 4-5 dm. high. 



Above the influence of the tide and occupying the clayey 

 banks were a number of species of interest, among them the in- 

 digenous Physostegia virginiana (nos. 6113, 6432) which ac- 

 cording to House, (I.e. p. 597) is "infrequent or rare from Lake 

 Champlain and Oneida County southward and westward." Oc- 

 casional on these banks but becoming abundant in nearby alder 

 thickets, was the true Gentiana Andrewsii (cf. Fernald, Rhodora 

 19: 147. 1917) which has the appearance of G. Saponaria but is 

 easily recognized by the corolla fringes which project from the 

 narrowed apex of the flower. G: Andrewsii is chiefly a western 

 species, which has been confused with G. clausa, the common 

 species of the New England uplands. Pedicularis lanceolata ap- 



