clovers have flowers in racemes; a white and a yellow form are 
common. Other plants here are bird-foot clover, perennial pea, 
and wild indigo. 
The spurge family has small flowers and a milky juice. Here 
may be seen the naturalized cypress spurge, common along road- 
sides, and the American flowering spurge, milk purslane, and 
ipecac. In this family also belongs the Brazilian tree ( Hevea 
brasiliensis ) which is now the principal source of rubber. 
The plants in the beds on the east side of the local flora val- 
ley are mostly gamopetalous— that is, the petals are united more 
or less as in the morning-glory. 
The mint family is characterized by a square stem and oppo- 
site leaves; nearly all the plants have a characteristic minty odor. 
The ground-ivy or gill-over-the-ground and the self-heal or heal- 
all are common everywhere. The true mints ( Mentha ) are mostly 
naturalized from Europe. Other plants here are catnip, sage, 
dead-nettles, and bugle-weed. 
Below the mints the beds are occupied by the great composite 
family, beginning with goldenrods and asters. These plants for 
the most part bloom in the late summer. 
Among the shrubs in bloom now, those of the heath and 
honeysuckle families are conspicuous. Mountain laurel about 
the middle of the month forms a mass of flowers below the bog. 
When touched, the stamens of this flower are released and throw 
out pollen. The lower sheep laurel or lambkill has smaller flow- 
ers on the middle of the stem. The great laurel, Rhododendro7i 
maximum , flowers later in the month in the upper end of the 
meadow. Several blueberries and the common huckleberry are in 
bloom near the bog. The early low blueberry, Vacci?iium pen7i- 
sylva7iicnm, is the first to flower; a little later comes Vacci7iiu?n 
vacillaj/s, and last the high-bush blueberry, VaccUiium cory7n- 
bosum, growing usually in swamps. The huckleberries are dis- 
tinguished by the reddish flowers and the hard nutlets of the 
fruit. 
The honeysuckle family includes the honeysuckles, the vibur- 
nums, and the elders. These plants have opposite leaves, and the 
ovary is inferior— that is, the fruit develops below the flower. 
The blackberried elder is one of the last of the native shrubs to 
bloom. The most common viburnums on Long Island are the 
low maple-leaved viburnum {.Viburnum acerifolium ), the arrow- 
wood (V. dentatum) , with toothed leaves, and the mayberry ( V. 
Lentago), with finely serrate leaves. The snowberry and the 
bush honeysuckles (Die> villa) also flower during June. Many 
other plants of this family may be seen in the main part of the 
garden. 
Alfred Gundersen. 
