36 THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET. 



Botany 

 of Nantucket. Some years ago, when the sheep were 

 allowed to roam at large over oar commons and nibble 

 the first appearance of verdure, the botanist and the 

 florist were busy in their researches; for it was only by 

 diligent seeking that any results were obtained. Nev- 

 ertheless, the herbarium was elaborate; perhaps the 

 more so on account of the labor requisite in order to 

 find perfect specimens of any flowering plant. The 

 mosses, lichens, and ferns were even then sufficiently 

 beautiful to compensate the student for his patient 

 working. At that time, for instance, one feeble speci- 

 men of the blossom of the Hudsonia tomentosa could 

 be found in perfection, where now, freed from the 

 sheep, the whole surface of the island is covered with 

 this heath-like plant in its season, its yellow flowers to 

 be had for the glancing. Even the varieties of the 

 golden-rod, the yellow as well as the white, which fur- 

 nish the rich covering to our commons at times, were 

 not a familiar feature, though known and specified by 

 the scientists of the island. The carpet-grass and the 

 orange-grass with its fragrance, now greeting us at 

 every turn, were eagerly sought for at that period. 

 Few flowers are found to-day which were unknown to 

 the botanist of Nantucket some thirty years ago as 

 indigenous to our soil; yet the mere florist of the pres- 

 ent can supply his parlors with bouquets of those wild 

 flowers whose rare specimens were treasured in the 

 herbarium, and seen in no other connection. The 

 mealplum vine, found in few parts of New England 

 (ursa fcacca), with its glossy leaves and scarlet berries^ 



