77 



lighter colored thalli as small orbicular colonies advance out 



upon open ledges. It is often found as an epiphyte on the thalli 



of Gyrophora dillenii. Once identified, it is seen to be one of the 



commonest lichens in our region, and it adapts itself to various 



conditions and reproduces, by soredia only, with obvious 



efficiency and success. ,-, TT „ 



J Raymond H. Torrey 



Field Trip of April 2 to Silver Lake 

 Park, White Plains 



A light rain and black clouds in the morning evidently dis- 

 couraged some members of the club as only seven met at the 

 station of the New York, Westchester and Boston Rail Road. 

 The announced object of the trip was for spring flowering trees 

 and shrubs. Evidently the trees among the hills of the region 

 are later in opening their buds than elsewhere, as only a few red 

 maples, Acer rubrum, and elms, Ulmus americana, were found 

 in bloom. Under one slender maple were scattered many twigs 

 with opened flowers, the stems all showing the tooth marks of 

 squirrels. The staminate catkins of the smooth alder, Alnus 

 rugosa, were shedding pollen on some plants, on others all the 

 pollen had been shed and the catkins were drying. The stigmas 

 of the pistillate catkins all showed pollen when examined with 

 a lens. On the hazelnut, Corylus rostrata, the staminate catkins 

 were fully expanded and some shedding pollen, but none of the 

 pistillate flowers could be seen. 



Beside the swamp the skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, 

 was nearly through flowering, with some of the leaves fully un- 

 rolled, the fluted spikes of the white hellebore, Veratrum viride, 

 were six or more inches high, and a patch of golden saxifrage, 

 Chrysosplenium americanum, was growing vigorously though it 

 had no blossoms. Several plants of hepatica, Hepatica acutiloba, 

 had the little hairy buds showing, but only one flower was found 

 fully expanded. A small colony of walking fern, Camptosorus 

 rhizophyllus, was found on a boulder of Fordham gneiss. As this 

 fern is usually associated with limestone, Mr. Elwert tested 

 the soil about the roots of the plants and found it to be strongly 

 acid. In several places Botrychium obliquum var. dissectitm was 

 found, twenty or thirty of the sterile leaves of last year being 



found in one small area. „ „ TT 



George T. Hastings 



