A STROLL ALONG THE BEACH OF LAKE MICHIGAN. 351 
the city, where it was once much more abundant. The 
_ grasses Calamagrostis longifolia, Card-grass (Spartina cyno- 
suroides), Porcupine-grass (Stipa spartea), are common 
enough and look as though they ought to be dwellers by the 
sea. We find in the sand beach of the great lakes, Pitcher’s 
Thistle (Cirsium Pitcheri), a curious plant which we should 
look for along the sea beach. It is white, wooly all over, 
the stem leafy and sprawling, the flowers cream color, and 
about the size of our common Cirsium lanceolatum. The 
Dwarf, or Sand-cherry, usually trailing six to eighteen inches 
high, characteristic of true western enterprise, occasionally 
grows along our shore to the height of eight or ten feet, and 
has a stem two inches in diameter. 
In the walk first proposed one finds thrifty specimens of 
the Bearberry (Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi). Its pinkish white 
flowers are too pretty to be known by two such long, ugly 
names, as those given by Adanson and Sprengel. There are 
now and then tufts of the Early Wild-rose (Rosa blanda), 
abundance of common Milkweed (Asclepias cornuti), and 
A. obtusifolia, several Willows and Poplars, Scrub Oak, 
Shrubby St. John's-wort, Climbing Bitter-sweet (Celastrus 
scandens), Grape-vines, Vetches, False Solomon's Seal, 
Asters, Huphorbia corollata, Panicum virgatum, Lead-plant 
(Amorpha canescens), and at the mouth of a brook, its kin- 
dred, the False Indigo (A. fruticosa), Poison Ivy, and 
Fragrant Sumach.* 
We have found several specimens of the curious Aphyllon 
Jasciculatum, a parasitic ghostly plant of the Broom-Rape 
Family. In August we find two species of Prairie Clover 
(Petalostemon violaceum and P. candidum), the former has 
been pronounced the belle of Chicago, notwithstanding the 
want of grace in its straight flower-spike. Back in the 
ponds flourish the Pond-lilies (JVympA«a odorata and N. 
tuberosa), and Nuphar advena. The Yellow Nelumbo Ue 
In dry places flourishes a curious Umbellifer, the Rattlesnake-master, or Button- 
M. Eryngium yuccaefolium), with leaves like the Yucca, and head and stalk 
resembling the onions of our gardens. 
