CHARACTERISTIC FLOWERS OF CONCORD. 85 



one unobtrusive little flower that marks for me the 

 month 



"When the noons are sultry hot, 

 And the nights are frosty cool." 



When the September mists are rising, and the watery- 

 sunlight leaks through the dense foliage, having lost 

 its power to warm, — by the roadside or in the damp 

 meadow I notice everywhere the faint, elusive fra- 

 grance and the stiff little spikes of the spiranthes or 

 ladies' tresses. White as a nun, but erect as a sol- 

 dier, this little orchid stands like a sentinel guarding 

 the gates through which summer has passed and au- 

 tumn is coming. 



What is there left in October but the gorgeous fo- 

 liage and the ripening harvest of the dying year? 

 The goldenrods are mostly wraiths and the asters are 

 hardly more than mists; the hawthorn shows its scar- 

 let fruit and the black alder is studded with coral 

 berries. Still, there are flowers. I have gathered 

 violets in the mellow sunlight, and in 1898, on October 

 24, I found the pink, yellow-tipped blossoms of the 

 pale corydalis in full bloom on Kattlesnake Hill. 

 The rare flower of the month is undoubtedly the 

 fringed gentian. 



