Report of the State Botanist. 89 



occupy much of the shallow water space, sometimes growing 

 intermingled and again each maintaining exclusive possession 

 over large areas. Such plants as the water persicaria, Polygonum 

 amphibium, in which the leaves w^ere often two inches wide and 

 four or live inches long, and the swamp dock, Ruint.i' verti- 

 cillatiis^ were apparently intent on obtaining as much food as 

 possible from their watery habitat, for they had emitted a dense 

 whorl of rootlets from each of the lower joints of the submerged 

 stem. 



Our native wild roses and wild asters have been the source of 

 considerable perplexity to botanists by reason of the variability 

 of the species. Some special attention has been given to these 

 plants the past summer and autumn. Our native roses are easily 

 divided into two groups, one of w^hich is easily recognized by 

 the naked pedicels and receptacles and by the persistent lobes 

 of the calyx ; the other, by the glandular pedicles and receptacles 

 and the deciduous lobes of the calyx. The bland or early wild 

 rose, Bosa hlanda, has hitherto been considered our only repre- 

 sentative of the first group, but two roses have been found on 

 the mountains and along the highways in the eastern part of 

 Essex county which correspond to the description of the two 

 western roses, R. Engelvianni and R. Sayi^ which also belong to 

 this group. These have the stems, and usually the branches also, 

 densely clothed with prickles intermingled with some straight 

 slender spines, a feature b}' which they may at a glance be dis- 

 tinguished from ordinary forms of the bland rose. They scarcely 

 differ from each other except in the form of the fruit ^v^hich is 

 globose in the specimens referred to Say's rose, and oblong 

 elliptical or ovate in those referred to Engelmann's rose. The 

 bland rose which usually has stems entirely destitute of prickles 

 or spines, sometimes occurs with prickles toward the base of the 

 stems, but I have seen no specimens with spines. 



The Carolinian or swamp rose, Rosa Carolina^ so far as my 

 observation goes, is most satisfactorily recognized by the teeth 

 on the margin of the leaflets. These are decidedly smaller and 

 liner than those of the leaflets of the other species of its group. 

 The stem is sometimes furnished with prickles, sometimes des- 

 titute of them. This is the only species of wild rose that I have 

 found in the heart of the Adirondack wilderness. It flowers 

 1893. 12 



