224 THROUGH GLADE AND MEAD. 
in bloom. The button-bush is easily recognized by its 
spherical-shaped heads of white flowers. It is confined 
to wet situations, frequently growing with its roots and 
part of the stem under water, forming large clusters on 
the edges of ponds or lining the banks of rivers. ‘It is 
associated,” says Wilson Flagg, ‘with the complaining 
song of the blackbird, whose nest is often placed in the 
forks of its branches, and it accompanies the ruder as- 
pects of nature.” 
The dwarf sumach, on the other hand, is found in 
dry places, lining on both sides the old Virginia rail 
fence or the stone wall of the upland pasture, although 
it ‘does not despise the company of the merry brook. 
The dwarf sumach is easily distinguished from the other 
four species of Rhus, not so much by its size, as by the 
winged petiole of the leaf. 
I saw the flowering raspberry (Rubus odoratus, L.) 
for the first time more than twenty years ago, in fruit 
on the slopes of Owl’s Head by Lake Memphremagog ; 
then in Princeton, and then close at home in Millbury 
and on Tataessit Hill in Worcester. It was the same 
experience to which I have alluded before; the remote 
was found to be near, when the eyes were opened to 
see it. 
Rare and local, yet of great beauty, the Rhododen- 
dron maximum, L. of the Auburn swamp calls up pic- 
tures of many a pleasant pilgrimage to the spot where 
