The white oak, Quercus alba. And the commonest scrub oak, the bear or black oak, Q. ilicifolia.
The chinquapin, or dwarf chestnut, oak, the smallest of our oaks, Q. prinoides.
The Cratægus coccinea (?), or scarlet-fruited thorn (?)
Another glorious vista with a wide horizon at the yellow Dutch house, just over the Wayland line, by the black spruce, heavy and dark as night, which we could see two or three miles as a landmark. Now at least, before the deciduous trees have fully expanded their leaves, it is remarkably black. It is more stoutly and irregularly branched than Holbrook’s spruces—has a much darker foliage; but the cone scales of both are slightly waved or notched. Are they, then, both black spruce? The cones are enough like, and the thickness of the leaves; their color enough unlike. Here is a view of the Jenkins house, the fish-pole house, and Wachusett beyond.
Noticed what I think must be a young poison sumach[180] abundant by the roadside in woods, with last year’s berries, with small greenish-yellow flowers, but leaves not pinnatifid, three together; from one to two feet high. What is it?
Alnus serrulata, the common alder, with a grayish stem, leaves smooth on both sides.
Alnus incana, the speckled alder, downy on under side of leaves.
The hard-berried plant seems to be Andromeda ligustrina (?) of Gray, A. paniculata of Bigelow, Lyonia paniculata of Emerson.
Thyme-leaved veronica, little bluish-white, streak-petalled flower by road sides. Silene Pennsylvanica.
What is the orange-yellow aster-like flower of the meadows now in blossom with a sweet-smelling stem when bruised?[181]