Chapter II: Flowers and Shrubs

It appears that in a forest like this the great majority of flowers, shrubs, and grasses are confined to the banks of the rivers and lakes, and to the meadows, more open swamps, burnt lands, and mountain-tops; comparatively very few indeed penetrate the woods. There is no such dispersion even of wild-flowers as is commonly supposed, or as exists in a cleared and settled country. Most of our wild-flowers, so called, may be considered as naturalized in the localities where they grow. Rivers and lakes are the great protectors of such plants against the aggressions of the forest, by their annual rise and fall keeping open a narrow strip where these more delicate plants have light and space in which to grow. They are the _protégés_ of the rivers. These narrow and straggling bands and isolated groups are, in a sense, the pioneers of civilization. Birds, quadrupeds, insects, and man also, in the main, follow the flowers, and the latter in his turn makes more room for them and for berry-bearing shrubs, birds, and small quadrupeds. One settler told me that not only blackberries and raspberries but mountain maples came in, in the clearing and burning.

Though plants are often referred to primitive woods as their locality, it cannot be true of very many, unless the woods are supposed to include such localities as I have mentioned. Only those which require but little light, and can bear the drip of the trees, penetrate the woods, and these have commonly more beauty in their leaves than in their pale and almost colorless blossoms.

The prevailing flowers and conspicuous small plants of the _woods_, which I noticed, were: _Clintonia borealis_, linnæa, checkerberry (_Gaultheria procumbens_), _Aralia nudicaulis_ (wild sarsaparilla), great round-leaved orchis, _Dalibarda repens_, _Chiogenes hispidula_ (creeping snowberry), _Oxalis Acetosella_ (common wood-sorrel), _Aster acuminatus_, _Pyrola secunda_ (one-sided pyrola), _Medeola Virginica_ (Indian cucumber-root), small _Circæa_ (enchanter’s nightshade), and perhaps _Cornus Canadensis_ (dwarf cornel).

Of these, the last of July, 1858, only the _Aster acuminatus_ and great round-leaved orchis were conspicuously in bloom.

The most common flowers of the _river_ and _lake shores_ were: _Thalictrum cornuti_ (meadow-rue); _Hypericum ellipticum_, _mutilum_, and _Canadense_ (St. John’s-wort); horsemint; horehound, _Lycopus Virginicus_ and _Europæus_, var. _sinuatus_ (bugle-weed); _Scutellaria galericulata_ (skullcap); _Solidago lanceolata_ and _squarrosa_, East Branch, (goldenrod); _Diplopappus umbellatus_ (double-bristled aster); _Aster Radula_; _Cicuta maculata_ and _bulbifera_ (water hemlock); meadow-sweet; _Lysimachia stricta_ and _ciliata_ (loosestrife); _Galium trifidum_ (small bed-straw); _Lilium Canadense_ (wild yellow lily); _Platanthera peramœna_ and _psycodes_ (great purple orchis and small purple fringed orchis); _Mimulus ringens_ (monkey-flower); dock (water); blue flag; _Hydrocotyle Americana_ (marsh pennywort); _Sanicula Canadensis_ (_?_) (black snake-root); _Clematis Virginiana_ (_?_) (common virgin’s-bower); _Nasturtium palustre_ (marsh cress); _Ranunculus recurvatus_ (hooked crow-foot); _Asclepias incarnata_ (swamp milkweed); _Aster Tradescanti_ (Tradescant’s aster); _Aster miser_, also _longifolius_; _Eupatorium purpureum_, apparently, lake shores, (Joe-Pye-weed); _Apocynum Cannabinum_, East Branch, (Indian hemp); _Polygonum cilinode_ (bindweed); and others. Not to mention, among inferior orders, wool-grass and the sensitive fern.

In the water, _Nuphar advena_ (yellow pond-lily), some _potamogetons_ (pond-weed), _Sagittaria variabilis_ (arrowhead), _Sium lineare_ (_?_) (water-parsnip).

Of these, those conspicuously in flower the last of July, 1857, were: rue, _Solidago lanceolata_ and _squarrosa_, _Diplopappus umbellatus_, _Aster Radula_, _Lilium Canadense_, great and small purple orchis, _Mimulus ringens_, blue flag, virgin’s-bower, etc.

The characteristic flowers in _swamps_ were: _Rubus triflorus_ (dwarf raspberry); _Calla palustris_ (water-arum); and _Sarracenia purpurea_ (pitcher-plant). On _burnt grounds_: _Epilobium angustifolium_, in full bloom, (great willow-herb); and _Erechthites hieracifolia_ (fire-weed). On _cliffs_: _Campanula rotundifolia_ (harebell); _Cornus Canadensis_ (dwarf cornel); _Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi_ (bear-berry); _Potentilla tridentata_ (mountain cinquefoil); _Pteris aquilina_ (common brake). At _old camps, carries, and logging-paths_: _Cirsium arvense_ (Canada thistle); _Prunella vulgaris_ (common self-heal); clover; herd’s-grass; _Achillea millefolium_ (common yarrow); _Leucanthemum vulgare_ (whiteweed); _Aster macrophyllus_; _Halenia deflexa_, East Branch, (spurred gentian); _Antennaria margaritacea_ (pearly everlasting); _Actæa rubra_ and _alba_, wet carries, (red and white cohosh); _Desmodium Canadense_ (tick-trefoil); sorrel.

The handsomest and most interesting flowers were the great purple orchises, rising ever and anon, with their great purple spikes perfectly erect, amid the shrubs and grasses of the shore. It seemed strange that they should be made to grow there in such profusion, seen of moose and moose-hunters only, while they are so rare in Concord. I have never seen this species flowering nearly so late with us, or with the small one.

The prevailing underwoods were: _Dirca palustris_ (moose-wood), _Acer spicatum_ (mountain maple), _Virburnum lantanoides_ (hobble-bush), and frequently _Taxus baccata_, var. _Canadensis_ (American yew).

The prevailing shrubs and small trees along the shore were: _osier rouge_ and alders (before mentioned); sallows, or small willows, of two or three kinds, as _Salis humilis_, _rostrata_, and _discolor_ (_?_); _Sambucus Canadensis_ (black elder); rose; _Viburnum Opulus_ and _nudum_ (cranberry-tree and withe-rod); _Pyrus Americana_ (American mountain-ash); _Corylus rostrata_ (beaked hazelnut); _Diervilla trifida_ (bush honeysuckle); _Prunus Virginiana_ (choke-cherry); _Myrica gale_ (sweet-gale); _Nemopanthes Canadensis_ (mountain holly); _Cephalanthus occidentalis_ (button-bush); _Ribes prostratum_, in some places, (fetid currant).

More particularly of shrubs and small trees in _swamps_: some willows, _Kalmia glauca_ (pale laurel), _Ledum latifolium_ and _palustre_ (Labrador tea), _Ribes lacustre_ (swamp gooseberry), and in one place _Betula pumila_ (low birch). At _camps and carries_: raspberry, _Vaccinium Canadense_ (Canada blueberry), _Prunus Pennsylvanica_ (also alongshore) (wild red cherry), _Amelanchier Canadensis_ (shad-bush), _Sambucus pubens_ (red-berried elder). Among those peculiar to the _mountains_ would be the _Vaccinium Vitis-Idæa_ (cow-berry).

Of plants commonly regarded as _introduced_ from Europe, I observed at Ansel Smith’s clearing, Chesuncook, abundant in 1857: _Ranunculus acris_ (buttercups); _Plantago major_ (common plantain); _Chenopodium album_ (lamb’s-quarters); _Capsella Bursa-pastoris_, 1853, (shepherd’s-purse); _Spergula arvensis_, also north shore of Moosehead in 1853, and elsewhere, 1857, (corn-spurry); _Taraxacum Dens-leonis_--regarded as indigenous by Gray, but evidently introduced there--(common dandelion); _Polygonum Persicaria_ and _hydropiper_, by a logging-path in woods at Smith’s, (lady’s-thumb and smart-weed); _Rumex Acetosella_, common at carries, (sheep sorrel); _Trifolium pratense_, 1853, on carries, frequent, (red clover); _Leucanthemum vulgare_, carries, (whiteweed); _Phleum pratense_, carries, 1853 and 1857, (herd’s-grass); _Verbena hastata_ (blue vervain); _Cirsium arvense_, abundant at camps, 1857, (Canada thistle); _Rumex crispus_ (_?_), West Branch, 1853 (?), (curled dock); _Verbascum Thapsus_, between Bangor and lake, 1853, (common mullein).

It appears that I saw about a dozen plants which had accompanied man as far into the woods as Chesuncook, and had naturalized themselves there, in 1853. Plants begin thus early to spring by the side of a logging-path,--a mere vista through the woods, which can only be used in the winter, on account of the stumps and fallen trees,--which at length are the roadside plants in old settlements. The pioneers of such are planted in part by the first cattle, which cannot be summered in the woods.