F 



July 17, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



The June Flora of a Long Island Swamp. 



ONLY those that have watched the gradual growth and 

 development of a field of wild flowers can realize 

 the amount of enjoyment that can be derived from the 

 daily inspection of a few acres of marshy meadow-land. 

 Every visit reveals new beauties, and usually new plants, 

 that, no matter how carefully every foot of ground has been 

 gone over before, have escaped the rigid scrutiny of a 

 plant-lover's eye. The swamp that has been the source of 

 much pleasure and entertainment to me for three succes- 

 sive summers is situated at the head of a small pond, 

 where for a very short part of the winter the salt water pene- 

 trates, but it is, however, essentially a fresh-water swamp. 

 The spring that fills it starts in a low meadow, a short dis- 

 tance off, and grows rapidly into a little brook that spreads 

 itself into a broad expanse of bog, widening here and there 

 into broader pools that harbor many a delightful water- 

 weed, till it ends half a mile away in deeper and clear water 

 in the pond. It is divided into three portions: a sloping 

 peaty meadow, that gradually becomes too soft and wet to 

 cross ; a long boggy stretch, principally filled with rushes ; 

 and further on, an almost impenetrable thicket composed 

 of a variety of shrubs and small trees, such as Andro- 

 meda, Leucothoe, Rhododendron, Clethra, Viburnum, My- 

 rica and many others, most conspicuous among which are 

 the Swamp Maples, with their pale leaves, and some 

 very Japanesque-looking Tupelos, Nyssa sylvatica. Be- 

 tween the meadow and the road is a long row of fine aged 

 White Willows, which in beauty rival the Elms for which 

 East Hampton is justly famed. 



The swamp and meadow were first visited this year on 

 the 17th of June, and, besides Daisies, Buttercups and 

 white and pink Clovers along the upper dry portion, it was 

 filled all the way down to the bog with Blue-eyed Grass, 

 Sisyrinchium Bermudiana. The plants were so thick every- 

 where that it seemed scarcely possible to step without 

 crushing a hundred, and so tiny that their color did 

 not affect the general tone of the meadow as did the masses 

 of Meadow Soft Grass, Holcus lanatus, the spikes of which 

 were not yet in bloom. A more beautiful sight can hardly 

 be imagined. Whether the salt air helps the color of Hol- 

 cus or not, the manual does not tell, but surely it is no- 

 where as brilliant a silvery pink-purple as it is here, and, 

 perhaps, for the same reason it is known to the farmers as 

 "Red Top." Down nearer the bog, Pogonia ophioglos- 

 soides filled the grass with its little pink buds, with here 

 and there a few in bloom. Splendid Yellow Thistles, Cnicus 

 horridulus, were scattered around, and, notwithstanding 

 their repelling name, are very handsome, decorative things 

 to look at, but at the same time very awe-inspiring to the 

 plant-collector. They are scarcely more than two feet 

 high, usually lower, with a rosette of long, very prickly 

 leaves, spreading flat on the ground ; most beautiful leaves, 



