THE FLOWERS OF MAY. 145 
neighborhood is the red-berried elder (Sambucus race- 
mosa, L.), although in the rocky gorge of Purgatory, a 
dozen miles away, it is one of the most abundant shrubs. 
Another is the wild gooseberry (Ribes oxyacanthoides, 
L.), of which I can find but one or two shrubs. The 
American hornbeam (Carpinus. Caroliniana, Walter) 
and the hop-hornbeam (Ostrya Virginica, Willd.) are 
‘small, handsome trees. The smooth, fluted trunk of the 
former is an interesting object to a person curious in 
forest history. Its fruit is unlike any other. Its foliage 
somewhat resembles that of a birch. The foliage of the 
hop-hornbeam also resembles that of the black birch, 
and its fruit has a resemblance to that of the hop. 
Neither of these is as well known as it deserves to be. 
The dark knobs that now stud the white ash disclose 
one of our most valuable forest trees. 
These apparently withered stems in the grass by 
the roadside are the fertile stems of the common horse- 
tail (Equisetum arvense, L.), the spores of which are 
interesting microscopic objects, illustrating finely the 
influence of moisture on the attached filaments. Gold- 
thread and early meadow-rue and the sedges and bell- 
wort and Solomon’s seal and celandine and cranesbill, 
each and all seem to be needed to complete the charm 
of the month. If we look at them with appreciative 
eye, they will give us a keener enjoyment of Life. 
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