Painted-Cup Meadow

June 3

Friday. P. M. - To Annursnack. By way of the linnæa, which I find is not yet out. That thick pine wood is full of birds. 

Castilleja coccinea

(Masebrock, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

The painted-cup is in its prime. It reddens the meadow, – Painted-Cup Meadow. 

It is a splendid show of brilliant scarlet, the color of the cardinal flower, and surpassing it in mass and profusion. They first appear on the side of the hill in drier ground, half a dozen inches high, and their color is most striking then, when it is most rare and precious; but they now cover the meadow, mingled with buttercups, etc., and many are more than eighteen inches high. It reminds me of a flame when it first appears. It might be called flame-flower, or scarlet-tip. Here is a large meadow full of it, and yet very few in the town have ever seen it.

The song of the robin and the chirp (?) of the chip-bird now begin prominently to usher in and to conclude the day. The robin's song seems not so loud as in the early spring, perhaps because there are so many other sounds at present. 

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 3, 1853

To Annursnack. By way of the linnæa, which I find is not yet out. See June 6, 1853 ("To Linnæa Woods . . . The linnæa just out."); See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Linnaea borealis (Twinflower) [At 365 feet, Annursnack is the highest elevation in Concord; its name derives from an Algonquian word meaning “lookout place.” ~  Ray Angelo, Place Names of Henry David Thoreau in Concord] 

Painted Cup Meadow.  See May 15, 1853 ("The tall buttercup on the west edge of Painted-Cup Meadow for a day or two at least, and the fringed polygala as long.");  May 28, 1856 ("To Painted-Cup Meadow. Potentilla argentea, maybe several days. Trifolium pratense."); May 29, 1856 ("Ride to Painted-Cup Meadow . . . Found a painted-cup with more yellow than usual in it  and at length Edith found one perfectly yellow. What a flowery place, a vale of Enna, is that meadow! Painted-cup, Erigeron bellidifolius, Thalictrum dioicum, Viola Muhlenbergii, fringed polygala, buck-bean, pedicularis, orobanche, etc., etc. Where you find a rare flower, expect to find more rare ones."); June 2, 1854 ("The Painted-Cup Meadow is all lit up with ferns, on its springy slopes."); June 10, 1860 ("There is much handsome interrupted fern in the Painted-Cup Meadow."); July 28, 1860 ("Holcus lanatus long done; very abundant on the west and northwest side of Painted-Cup Meadow."); September 2, 1856 ("In Painted- Cup Meadow the ferns are yellowing, imbrowned, and crisped, as if touched by frost (?), yet it may be owing to the rains."); October 12, 1857 ("The fringed gentian . . . along the north edge of the Painted-Cup Meadows."); September 13, 1858 ("Fringed gentian out well, on easternmost edge of the Painted- Cup Meadows, by wall.") 

The painted-cup is in its prime. It reddens the meadow . . . yet very few in the town have ever seen it. See May 8, 1853 ("At the foot of Annursnack, rising from the Jesse Hosmer meadow, was surprised by the brilliant pale scarlet flowers of the painted-cup (Castilleja coccinea) just coming into bloom. Some may have been out a day or two. Methinks this the most high-colored and brilliant flower yet, not excepting the columbine . . .  In color it matches Sophia's cactus blossoms exactly. It is all the more interesting for being a painted leaf and not petal . . . It is now from three to six inches high, rising from the moist base of the hill. It is wonderful what a variety of flowers may grow within the range of a walk, and how long some very conspicuous ones may escape the most diligent walker. if you do not chance to visit their localities the right week or fortnight, when their signs are out. It is a flaming leaf. The very leaf has flowered; not the ripe tints of autumn, but the rose in the cheek of infancy; a more positive flowering."); May 9, 1855 ("Castilleja show red, one, but will not bloom under a week probably."); May 29, 1856 ("Found a painted-cup with more yellow than usual in it, and at length Edith found one perfectly yellow. What a flowery place, a vale of Enna, is that meadow!”)

[Scarlet painted-cup [Castilleja coccinea] is an annual herb that is hemiparasitic . . . formerly found in several New England states, but is now apparently restricted to Connecticut, where only a small handful of populations remain. GoBotany]

The song of the robin and the chirp of the chip-bird now begin prominently to usher in and to conclude the day. See June 2, 1853 ("3.30 A.M.- When I awake I hear the low universal chirping or twittering of the chip-birds, like the bursting bead on the surface of the uncorked day."); June 16, 1853 ("Before 4 A.M., or sunrise, the sound of chip-birds and robins and bluebirds, etc., fills the air and is incessant.")

June 3. See  A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, June 3

It might be called flame-

flower or scarlet tip – few 

have ever seen it.

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Painted-Cup Meadow

 A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau

"A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality.”

~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2025

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