THE HAUNTS OF FLOWERS. 63 



esting plant. As oaks usually stand on a fertile soil, 

 there is a greater variety of species among their under- 

 growth than in almost any other wood. A grove of oaks, 

 after it has been thinned by the woodman so as to open 

 the grounds to the sun, becomes when left to nature a 

 rare repository of herbaceous plants. Yet there are cer- 

 tain curious species which are found almost exclusively in 

 pine woods. Such is the genus Monotropa, including 

 two species, the pine-sap and the bird's-nest, — plants 

 without leaves or hues, with stems resembling potato- 

 sprouts grown in a dark cellar. Outside of pine woods, 

 however, on their southern boundary, we may always look 

 for the earliest spring flowers, because no other wood 

 affords them so warm a protection. 



In our imaginary tour we have visited only the most 

 common scenes of nature ; we have traced to their habi- 

 tats very few rare plants, and have yet hardly noticed the 

 flowers of autumn, — those luxuriant growers, many of 

 them half shrubby and branching like trees. Some of 

 these have no select haunts. The asters and golden-rods, 

 the most conspicuous of the hosts of autumn, are found 

 in almost every soil and situation ; but they congregate 

 chiefly on the borders of woods and fields, and seem to 

 take special delight in arraying themselves by the sides 

 of roads recently laid out through a wet meadow. The 

 autumnal plants generally prosper only in the lowlands 

 which have not suffered from the summer droughts. 

 When botanizing at the close of the season, we must 

 avoid dry sandy places, and follow the windings of 

 narrow streams that glide through peat-meadows, and 

 traverse the sides of ditches, examining the convex em- 

 bankments of soil which have been thrown up by the 

 spade of the ditcher. On level moors we meet with occa- 

 sional rows of willows affectionately guarding the waters 

 of these artificial pools, where they were planted as senti- 



