Wild flowers of the Spuyten-Duyvil and Riverdale sections of 



New York City 



Mary L. Sefferien 



This section of New York City extends along the Hudson 

 River from the Harlem River north to the city line at Yonkers, 

 chiefly on the high ridge that slopes steeply down to the Hudson 

 on the west and to the valley through which Broadway ex- 

 tends on the east. There are many fine old estates here, on parts 

 of which the original vegetation has been little disturbed; also 

 there are small areas waiting to be built upon where native 

 plants and introduced weeds crowd each other. It is of interest 

 to record the more or less showy wild flowers still to be found 

 in this part of the city. Many of these, especially those marked 

 scarce or rare, will undoubtedly soon disappear from this sec- 

 tion, others quite as surely will be found here for many years 

 to come. 



One beautiful morning late in July we had started on a jaunt 

 with our "wire-haired" puppy when we came upon a rather 

 lovely scene, — a partly shaded marsh in which we glimpsed the 

 varied colors of budding and blooming flowers. As we wandered 

 in through the dew-ladened marsh grasses and sedges, tear 

 thumb and jewelweed we found the gold of the yellow and 

 fringed loosestrife, the deep purple of the nightshade or bitter- 

 sweet with clusters of red and green translucent berries on the 

 same vines, the pink of the swamp rose, the modest little blue 

 skullcap, the soft downy green of thoroughwort in bud, the 

 purplish-pink of Joe Pye Weed growing tall and stately, the 

 lovely lilac of a colony of monkey flowers, the rose-purple of 

 swamp milkweed and, in the shaded background, water hem- 

 lock spreading its flat clusters of greenish white flowers. As we 

 came away through the ferns and glimpsed the sunny yellow of 

 the star grass and gathered from the hillside the delicate white 

 blossoms of the starry campion on their graceful slender stems, 

 there came to us a deep sense of appreciation of the quiet beauty 

 of this wooded spot so near our home in the city. 



From the early spring when we found the wood carpeted 

 with the dainty spring beauty, adder's tongue lily and cut- 

 leaved toothwort, and the hillside brightened with the light gold 

 of the spice bush, we have watched the coming of the wild flow- 



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