Bog-Trotting for Orchids

Part 1

Bog-trotting for orchids

“I enter a swamp as a sacred place.”—Thoreau

BOG-TROTTING FOR ORCHIDS

By GRACE GREYLOCK NILES

With Illustrations from Nature

G. P. Putnam’s Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press 1904

COPYRIGHT, 1904 BY GRACE GREYLOCK NILES

Published, April, 1904

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

TO GENEVIEVE FARNELL IN GRATEFUL APPRECIATION OF HER AID AND ENCOURAGEMENT

“One true-born blossom, native to our skies, We dare not claim as kin, Nor frankly seek, for all that in it lies, The Indian’s moccasin.”

ELAINE GOODALE.]

Preface

During many seasons spent in the Hoosac Valley, it has been a source of great pleasure to me to trace mountain streams through moss-grown ravines to their beginnings, and to explore the almost inaccessible recesses of the sphagnous boglands. I have found it a delight to study the orchids, ferns, and various flowers sheltered in their homes, far removed from the roadside. I seldom follow any well-worn forest paths, for I have observed that the rarer plants do not dwell where the foot of man or the grazing herds have wandered. So it happens that the walks described in these pages lead mostly across lots, over hills and mountains, and through swamps.

The Hoosac Valley lies in the heart of the irregular Taconic Mountains, and extends over the southwestern part of Bennington County, Vermont, and the northwestern part of Berkshire County, Massachusetts. This region has a soil peculiarly adapted to the origin and growth of orchids. Here along the numerous streams and in the little vales are many unfathomable peat and marl beds which are veritable orchid gardens. The valley seems to be the common ground where rare plants from the North and South, as well as the migrating species from the East and West, meet and overlap each other.

Many people are accustomed to think of the orchid as a tropical flower which grows in our country only in cultivation and under highly artificial conditions. It is, however, true that many of the most attractive species of this beautiful group are endemic to most parts of the United States. There are to-day, according to conservative reports, from twenty-seven to thirty genera and from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty species of native orchids found in North America, north of Mexico. Most of these are terrestrial or earth-loving. There are eleven epiphytes, all of which are found only in the Southern States. The range of the North American orchids extends wherever sunshine and moisture prevail, nearly as far north as the Arctic Circle. Four Cypripediums grow between latitudes 54° and 64°, and from fifteen to eighteen species of the Orchid Family are natives of Alaska.

The North Atlantic region, covering northeastern United States and Canada, produces seventy-one species of Orchidaceæ; of these from forty-eight to fifty-six are reported for New England, and from forty to forty-two are found in the Hoosac Valley. Of the seventy-one North Atlantic orchids only fifteen or sixteen have not been found within Vermont. The most widely-known genus—Cypripedium, or Moccasin-Flower—is represented by thirteen species on the North American continent. This includes the single Mexican species. Six of this number have been collected in Connecticut, and five grow in the Hoosac Valley.

The excursions which I have recorded in this book were made particularly in search of orchids; but I have collected and observed all other flowers of interest which grow in the region which I have traversed, for the purpose of showing the natural environments of orchids, and introducing their near neighbors of swamp, forest, and rocky pasture-land.

G. G. N.

WILLIAMSTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

First Season

I. OFF TO THE HILLS OF BERKSHIRE AND BENNINGTON 3

II. BALL BROOK AND THE BOGS OF ETCHOWOG 15

III. THE HAUNTS OF THE RAM’S-HEAD MOCCASIN-FLOWERS 39

IV. THE STOLEN MOCCASINS 44

V. THE QUEEN OF THE INDIAN MOCCASIN-FLOWERS 55

Part 2

VI. HAIL STORMS AT ETCHOWOG 72

VII. SWEET POGONIAS AND LIMODORUMS 83

VIII. A COLONY OF RAM’S-HEADS IN WITCH HOLLOW 95

IX. OVER THE HUCKLEBERRY PLAINS 115

Second Season

X. WESTVILLE SWAMPS AND MOUNT CARMEL, CONNECTICUT 125

XI. MAY SHOWERS AND WHITE MOCCASIN-FLOWERS 137

XII. SAUCY JAYS AND POLYPORES 149

Third Season

XIII. THE SWAMPS AND HILLS OF MOSHOLU AND LOWERRE, NEW YORK 157

XIV. THE SWAMP OF ORACLES—HOOSAC VALLEY 167

XV. WHITE OAKS AND GREGOR ROCKS 183

XVI. ALPINE BLOSSOMS OF THE DOME 201

XVII. THE CASCADE AND BELLOWS-PIPE, NOTCH VALLEY, BERKSHIRE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS 212

XVIII. THE NATURAL BRIDGE OF MAYUNSOOK VALLEY, NORTHERN BERKSHIRE 224

XIX. ORANGE MOUNTAINS, AND SALT MEADOWS, NEW JERSEY 231

APPENDIX—NEW ENGLAND ORCHIDS 239

INDEX 285

Illustrations

The photographs in this list marked thus * were taken by Miss Katherine Lewers, the others by the author. The coloring is the work of the author. Of the fifteen genera of Orchidaceæ in New England, all save Listera, Tipularia, and Aplectrum are represented in these illustrations.

PAGE

The Pink Moccasin-Flower (Cypripedium acaule)* Frontispiece Colored

The Large Yellow Moccasin-Flower (Cypripedium hirsutum)* 4 Colored

The Botanizing Can, or Vasculum, Showing the White-Petaled Lady’s Slipper and Maiden-Hair Fern* 8

Mount Greylock’s Brotherhood—the Berkshire Highlands, from Mount Œta, Bennington County, Vermont, Showing the College Town of Williamstown in the Valley* 10

The Western Gateway of Hoosac Mountain, the Entrance to Hoosac Tunnel, North Adams, Massachusetts 14 Source of photograph unknown.

Ball Brook, in the Swamp of Oracles, Pownal, Vermont* 18

The Showy Lady’s Slipper—the Queen of the Indian Moccasin-Flowers (Cypripedium reginæ)* 24 Colored

Part 3

The Fleur-de-Lis (Iris versicolor)* 28

The Fountain of Arethusa, near the Bogs of Etchowog, Pownal, Vermont 30

Round-Leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) 32

The Carnivorous Plants, commonly called Pitcher Plants, and Dumb Watches (Sarracenia purpurea) 34

The Bogs of Etchowog, Showing the Dome in the Distance, Pownal, Vermont* 36

The Ram’s-Head Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium arietinum) 42

The Pink Moccasin-Flower (Cypripedium acaule)* 48 This is the only two-leaved Cypripedium found in the Atlantic region. Colored

The Tall White Northern Orchis (Habenaria dilatata), near Arethusa’s Spring, Bogs of Etchowog, Pownal, Vermont 52 Colored

The Showy Orchis (Orchis spectabilis) 56 The first orchid of the spring, found near the rocky borders of the Thompson Brook, East Pownal, Vermont. Colored

The Small Yellow Fragrant Moccasin-Flower (Cypripedium parviflorum)* 60 Colored

The Small White Moccasin-Flower (Cypripedium candidum) 62 Colored

The Queen of the Indian Moccasin-Flowers (Cypripedium reginæ), from the Bogs of Etchowog, Pownal, Vermont 68

The Small Purple-Fringed Orchis (Habenaria psycodes) 72

The Showy Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium reginæ)* 78 Colored

The Northern Gap, Showing the Taconic Mountains of Bennington County, from Mount Œta, Vermont. The Bennington Battle Monument towers to the left in the Distance* 86

The Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) 88 Colored

The Thompson Brook, East Pownal, Vermont 90

The Grass Pink (Limodorum tuberosum) 92 This is a strange, beautiful orchid with a straight seed-pod (ovary). Colored

The Perry Elm, Marking the Site of Fort Massachusetts, on the Harrison’s Flats, North Adams, Massachusetts, Showing Saddleback Mountain in the Distance 96

The Small Round-Leaved Orchis (Habenaria Hookeriana)* 100 Colored

The Showy Orchis (Orchis spectabilis)* 104 Showing the plant nearly natural size. Colored

The Large Purple-Fringed Orchis (Habenaria grandiflora) 110 From lithograph in Meehan’s Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States, 1: 1878. By permission. Colored

The Blackberry Blossoms from Mount Œta, Pownal, Vermont* 112

The Yellow Clintonia (Clintonia borealis), Rattlesnake Brook Swamp, Mount Œta, Pownal, Vermont 116

“White, innocent twigs of apple”* 126

The Woodman’s Road through Rattlesnake Swamp, Mount Œta, Pownal, Vermont 134

The Beautiful Arethusa (Arethusa bulbosa) 144 Colored

The Rattlesnake Plantain (Peramium), a Group of Three Species Collected on Rattlesnake Ledge, Mount Œta, Pownal, Vermont 150

Part 4

The Snowy Dogwood Blossoms, from the Hills of Mosholu, New York* 158

1. Indian Pipes (Monotropa uniflora); 2. Pine-Sap (Monotropa Hypopitys) 164

The Snow-Plant of the Sierra Nevada Mountains (Sarcodes sanguinea)* 166

Motherless Baby Whippoorwills* 176

A Colony of the Small Yellow Fragrant Moccasin-Flower (Cypripedium parviflorum) in the Glen of Comus, District Fourteen, Pownal, Vermont* 178 Colored

The Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) 184

The Gregor Rocks, Hoosac Valley, from Pownal Centre Road, Vermont* 188

The Pot-Hole of Wash-Tub Brook, Pownal, Vermont, Showing the Stream Whirling through its Basin 190

An Ancient Pot-Hole, Showing an Erstwhile Revolving Stone, Located on the Granite Ridge, near the Wolf’s Den, Bronx Park, New York City* 194

The Bluebells of New England (Campanula rotundifolia)* 196

Three Rare Ferns from Gregor Rocks and Wash-Tub Brook Region, Pownal, Vermont: 1. Rue-in-the-Wall Spleenwort (Asplenium Ruta-muraria); 2. Purple-Stemmed Cliff-Brake (Pellæa atropurpurea); 3. Walking Fern (Camptosorus rhizophyllus)* 198

The Rocking Boulder, Located on the Granite Ridge near the Bear’s Den, in the Zoölogical Garden, Bronx Park, New York City 200 A pressure of fifty pounds causes this boulder to move about two inches. From photograph by George Stonebridge.

The Red Wood Lily (Lilium Philadelphicum) 210

The Cascade of Notch Brook, at the Base of Mount Greylock’s Brotherhood, North Adams, Massachusetts 212

Notch Valley and the Bellows-Pipe, North Adams, Massachusetts. Mount Greylock towers up on the right, and the Ragged Mountains on the left hand 218

The Marble Arch of the Natural Bridge, North Adams, Massachusetts 228

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