6y 



is glossy and burnished, and pale yellow on the under 

 side. Another mark which distinguishes our native 

 holly from the European, is the margin of its leaf 

 which has not the very noticeable whitish and trans- 

 lucent edge that garnishes the border of the Euro- 

 pean species. 



By the border of the Walk and near the Drive, on 

 your left, is a clump of the cup plant {Silphium per- 

 foliatmn) which you will have no difficulty in recog- 

 nizing by its very smooth square stems rising from 

 five to ten feet in height, and set with large opposite 

 coarsely-toothed ovate leaves which come together 

 about the stem (connate) at their bases in a kind of 

 cup. The cup gathers water from the rains and dews, 

 and holds it in reserve for the uses of the plant. It 

 is this feature which has given the plant its name. 



Let us now turn at this point and go back the cross- 

 walks near the Seventh Avenue Gate, noting the things 

 we pass on our right — the northerly border of the 

 Walk along which we have just rambled. 



Up on the rocky bank, about diagonally opposite 

 the Scotch elm, stands a young shagbark hickory. 

 You can tell it easily by its scaly bark which seems 

 to blister from the trunk, and shag from it in curv- 

 ing ends. Its leaves, too, are distinctly compound, 

 made up of five leaflets, with the two lower ones much 

 smaller than the others. A little nearer the Walk, 

 and beyond the hickory, to the west, a sassafras rises 

 from beside a rock. If it is in foliage, its mitten- 

 shaped leaves will be enough to fix it for you. But 

 in winter you can tell it by its heavy, deeply-fissured 



