I see now green high blueberries, and gooseberries in Hubbard's Close, as well as shad-bush berries and strawberries.
May 30, 2016
In this dark, cellar-like maple swamp are scattered at pretty regular intervals tufts of green ferns, Osmunda cinnamomea, above the dead brown leaves, broad, tapering fronds, curving over on every side from a compact centre, now three or four feet high.
Wood frogs skipping over the dead leaves, whose color they resemble.
I am surprised to find arethusas abundantly out in Hubbard's Close, maybe two or three days, though not yet at Arethusa Meadow, probably on account of the recent freshet. It is so leafless that it shoots up unexpectedly. It is all color, a little hook of purple flame projecting from the meadow into the air. Some are comparatively pale. This high-colored plant shoots up suddenly, all flower, in meadows where it is wet walking. A superb flower.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, May 30, 1854
Tufts of green ferns, Osmunda cinnamomea, See May 26, 1855 ("Cinnamon fern to-day"); May 28, 1858 ("The earliest cinnamon fern, apparently not long. "); May 31, 1857 (" Also the cinnamon fern grows in circles"); See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Cinnamon Fern
Wood frog ~ See May 27, 1852 ("Catch a wood frog (Rana sylvatica), the color of a dead leaf. He croaks as I hold him, perfectly frog-like.”); September 12, 1857 ("I brought it close to my eye and examined it. It was very beautiful seen thus nearly, not the dull dead-leaf color which I had imagined, but its back was like burnished bronze . . . and reddish-orange soles to its delicate feet. There was a conspicuous dark-brown patch along the side of the head,"); October 16, 1857 ("I see a delicate pale brown-bronze wood frog. I think I can always take them up in my hand. They, too, vary in color,") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica)
Wood frogs skipping over the dead leaves, whose color they resemble.
 |
| Arethusa bulbosa (Dragon's mouth) |
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, May 30, 1854
Wood frog ~ See May 27, 1852 ("Catch a wood frog (Rana sylvatica), the color of a dead leaf. He croaks as I hold him, perfectly frog-like.”); September 12, 1857 ("I brought it close to my eye and examined it. It was very beautiful seen thus nearly, not the dull dead-leaf color which I had imagined, but its back was like burnished bronze . . . and reddish-orange soles to its delicate feet. There was a conspicuous dark-brown patch along the side of the head,"); October 16, 1857 ("I see a delicate pale brown-bronze wood frog. I think I can always take them up in my hand. They, too, vary in color,") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica)
Arethusas abundantly out in Hubbard's Close. See May 30, 1852 ("The bulbous arethusa, the most splendid, rich, and high-colored flower thus far, methinks, all flower and color, almost without leaves, and looking much larger than it is, and more conspicuous on account of its intense color. A flower of mark. It appeared two or three times as large as reality when it flashed upon me from the meadow."); See also May 28, 1853 ("The bulbous arethusa out a day or two — probably yesterday. Though in a measure prepared for it, still its beauty surprised me; it is by far the highest and richest color yet. Its intense color in the midst of the green meadow made it look twice as large as reality; it looks very foreign in the midst of our plants - its richly speckled, curled, and bearded lip."); May 29, 1856 (" Two Arethusa bulbosa at Hubbard’s Close apparently a day or two.”);.June 1, 1855 (“Arethusa out at Hubbard’s Close; say two or three days at a venture, there being considerable.“)
Arethusa Meadow and Hubbard's Close. See Ray Angelo, Thoreau Place Namess, "Arethusa Meadow" ("This is a meadow near the Sudbury River that Thoreau names after the Arethusa orchid (Arethusa bulbosa) that was not uncommon in Thoreau’s time but now has disappeared from Concord and most of southern New Englan. . . From the Journal references . . .we know that there was a Viburnum hedge on the west side of the meadow, that it was not far too far from the Sudbury River, Hubbard’s Bathing Place, and from a brook (almost certainly Hubbard’s Brook), that it was large enough to have been subject to ditching by the owners, and that it was an open, wet, sphagnous (peaty) area -- habitat suitable for the orchid.") and "Hubbard's Close" ("This close -- a small piece of enclosed land -- refers to an area just east of Walden Street surrounded by elevated land on all but two narrow sides. It is within the current Town Forest and in Thoreau’s time was known as Fairyland. Thoreau’s reference to Cotton-grass (Eriophorum sp.), the Grass-pink orchid (Calopogon tuberosus) and Arethusa orchid (Arethusa bulbosa) in the Close indicates that it had an open, sphagnous area. Apparently there was a pool in the Close according to his Journal entry of April 7, 1855.. . .This land and much of the surrounding woods (“Ebby Hubbard’s Woods”) was owned by the farmer Ebenezer Hubbard (1782 - 1871) after whom Thoreau named this close. Thoreau refers to Brister’s Meadow only in 1852 twice. He began to use the name Hubbard’s Close in 1853. He associated the very uncommon wildflower Polygala cruciata with both these place names. These circumstances establish the equivalence of these two names.")
The arethusa
shoots up unexpectedly –
it is all color.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The arethusa shoots up unexpectedly
"A book, each page written in its own season,
out-of-doors, in its own locality.”
~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2024
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