GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER. 185 
the aromatic black currant', the cranberry, the wild goose-berry®, and the winter 
berry*, are also more or less common. Ferns revel in this black spongy soil, and 
so does the common meadow sweet’, the scouring rush®, and a large number of swamp 
grasses. The wild balsam®, the swamp butterfly weed’, and the poke milk weed’, 
grow in rank luxuriance. The gorgeous cardinal-flower® shows in midsummer the most 
vivid red of the year—‘‘a red that seems endowed with conscious life, so glowing is its 
fire,” says Mr. George H. Ellwanger in his classical book ‘“The Garden’s Story.” Grow- 
ing near it we find the blue lobelia”, also a very conspicuous flower, and, occasionally, 
a plant of the fragrant snake-head". In these localities the elegant vase-like blossoms 
of the fringed gentian”, and in September those of the closed gentian™ may be found. 
I always admired the white wax-like, bell-shaped blossoms of the leather-leaf“ and the 
common andromeda”, both being at home only in this spongy cool soil. There are also 
Turk’s caps and Canada lilies, purple eupatoriums, evening primroses, pink epilobiums, 
all jostling and striving for supremacy. In early spring the bush and treeless edges of 
these swamps are covered with a broad cloth of gold by the sheet of flowers of the 
marsh-marigold", indeed a sight ever to be remembered. Near by we may see the immense 
leaves of an interesting aroid, the skunk-cabbage”. The blue flag® grows always in 
great luxuriance where water stands. Jack-in-the-pulpit” is also very common, but “it 
looks more like a snake than a flower.’ Its dazzling red but poisonous heads of berries 
arrest our attention late in summer.—Few realize the richness of our native flora, and 
comparatively few are acquainted with the charming plants of these cool, moist swamps. 
The most beautiful of Flora’s children are the lovely terrestrial orchids, many of which 
are still found common in such peaty tracts. The showy lady’s slipper” grows here often 
two feet high, the white flowers with their globular lips embellished with pink-purple 
being exceedingly charming. The yellow lady’s slipper” is also very magnificent, growing 
in great abundance in the shade and opening its uniform yellow flowers early in June. 
The purple-fringed orchis”, a plant of marked beauty, was once common, but of late 
years I rarely had an opportunity to cull its brilliant purple-violet, fragrant flowers. 
Habenaria leucophea and H. lacera, with greenish flowers, are more common. Arethusa 
bulbosa, also a lover of wet, cool places, is a charming orchid. At the top of the stem 
it bears a single, large, fragrant flower of a rich rosy purple color. The Calopogon 
pulchellus, or grass pink, with its beauteous pink flowers ranks next to the lady’s 
slipper. Pogonia ophioglossoides grows frequently side by side with the grass pink, 
opening its pale rose, sweet-scented flowers at the same time. The two ladies’-tresses 
(Spiranthes latifolia and S. cernua) are also very interesting and fragrant. These are 
only a few, the most beautiful, plants of our northern swamps. In the East such 
localities are much more ornamental, as there the ericaceous plants flourish in great 
abundance. Side by side with the fragrant rhodora™, the broad-leaved labrador tea* is 
often to be found. The sweet-scented white alder®™ often grows in the same swamps 
where the magnificent great rhododendron™ abounds. The swamp honey-suckle or 
1 Ribes foridum, 2 Ribes roduntifolium. 3 Ilex verticillata. 4 Spirw@a salicifolia. 5 Equisetum. 6 Impatiens 
pallida. 7 Asclepias incarnata. 8 Asclepias phytolaccoides. 9 Lobelia cardinalis. 10 L. syphilitica. 11 Chelone glabra. 
12 Gentiana crinita. 13 G. Andrewsii. 14 Cassandra calyculata. 15 Andromeda polifolia. 16 Caltha palustris. 17 Sym- 
Plocarpus foeditus. 18 Iris versicolor. 19 Arisema triphylum. 20 Cypripedium spectabile. 21 Cypripedium pubescens. 
22 Habenaria psycodes. 23 Rhodora canadensis. 24 Ledum latifolium. 25 Clethra alnifolia. 26 Rhododendron maximum. 
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