STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
ten feet high; it is mostly found in damp swampy soil or on 
the banks of streams and beaver meadows, partaking of the 
habits of the alder, which it resembles in its love of moisture. 
The leaves are ovate, somewhat narrowed at the base, 
serrate at the edges, thin, and not spiny, rather downy 
underneath; the branches and branchlets are dark colored; 
flowers greenish, on very short stalks, clustered in the axils 
of the leaves; the bush stiff and upright; leaves deciduous; 
berries bright red, remaining on the branches through the 
winter, much sought for by the wild pigeon and Canadian 
partridge. 
There is another shrub of the same order known as the 
MouUNTAIN HoLtty—Nemopanthes Canadensis (DC.), 
which is found northwards in cold bogs. Early in May, the 
swamps where this shrub abounds have a warm reddish- 
brown hue from the color of the young leaves; this soon 
turns to a delicate green, which again changes as it gets 
mature to a bluish glaucous green. The rose-colored berries 
are gracefully borne on long pedicels and are sometimes 
found in great profusion, when they present a beautiful 
effect. The berries of these hardy shrubs are a great 
resource for food to the “wee hopping things,” our late 
and early birds, and together with the dry seeds of the 
Mullein and Rough Amaranth, which harbor many insects 
in their husky seed-vessels, support them till the spring 
returns bringing food and gladness to the earth, when the 
Great Father opens His hand and filleth all things living 
with plenteousness. 
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