Lobelia cardinalis, three or four days, with similar white glands (?) on edges of leaves as in L. spicata. Why is not this noticed?
Cornus sericea about done.
As I paddle by Dodge's Brook, a great devil's-needle alights on my paddle, between my hands. It is about three inches long and three and a half in spread of wings, without spots, black and yellow, with green eyes (?). It keeps its place within a few inches of my eyes, while I was paddle some twenty-five rods against a strong wind, clinging closely. Perhaps it chose that place for coolness this hot day.
To-day, as yesterday, it is more comfortable to be walking or paddling at 2 and 3 p. m., when there is wind, but at five the wind goes down and it is very still and suffocating. I afterward saw other great devil's-needles, the forward part of their bodies light-blue and very stout.
The Stellaria longifolia is out of bloom and drying up. Vide some of this date pressed.
At Bath Place, above, many yellow lily pads are left high and dry for a long time, in the zizania hollow, a foot or more above the dry sand, yet with very firm and healthy green leaves, almost the only ones not eaten by insects now. This river is quite low.
The yellow lilies stand up seven or eight inches above the water, and, opposite to Merriam's, the rocks show their brown backs very thick (though some are concealed), like sheep and oxen lying down and chewing the cud in a meadow. I frequently run on to one — glad when it's the smooth side — and am tilted up this way or that, or spin round as on a central pivot. They bear the red or blue paint from many a boat, and here their moss has been rubbed off.
Ceratophyllum is now apparently in bloom commonly, with its crimson-dotted involucre.
I am surprised to find kalmiana lilies scattered thinly all along the Assabet, a few small, commonly reddish pads in middle of river, but I see no flowers. It is their great bluish waved (some green) radical leaves which I had mistaken for those of the heart-leaf, the floating leaves being so small. These and vallisneria washed up some time. The radical leaves of the heart-leaf are very small and rather triangular.
I see, on a rock in midstream, a peetweet within a foot of a turtle, both eying me anxiously within two rods, but not minding each other.
Zizania (wild rice)
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, July 27, 1856
A great devil's-needle alights on my paddle. See June 13, 1854 ("I float homeward over water almost perfectly smooth, my sail so idle that I count ten devil's-needles resting along it at once."); July 17, 1854 ("I am surprised to see crossing my course in middle of Fair Haven Pond great yellowish devil's-needles, flying from shore to shore.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Devil's-needle
Floating homeward, I
count devil's-needles at rest
on my idle sail.
Flying shore to shore,
yellowish devil's-needles
cross their Atlantic.
A devil's-needle
keeps its place on my paddle
against a strong wind.
I see, on a rock in midstream, a peetweet within a foot of a turtle, both eying me anxiously. See June 21, 1855 ("Peetweets make quite a noise calling to their young with alarm."); July 2, 1853 ("The peetweets are quite noisy about the rocks in Merrick’s pasture when I approach; have eggs or young there, which they are anxious about."); July 2, 1860 ("Nowadays hear . . . by the river fields the alarm note of the peetweets, concerned about their young."); July 6, 1856 ("The distressed or anxious peet of a peetweet. . . hovering over its young, half grown.") [Thoreau's Peetweet is the Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia)]
Zizania scarce out some days at least. See July 22, 1854 ("Zizania, a day, with a handsome light-green panicle a foot or more long, a long slender stem, and corn-like leaves frequently more than an inch wide"); July 24, 1853 ("The zizania, some days."); August 12, 1860 ("Zizania several days"); August 14, 1859 ("The zizania now makes quite a show along the river."); August 15, 1858 ("Wild [rice], apparently in prime. This is quite interesting and handsome, so tall and loose. The lower, spreading and loosely drooping, dangling or blown one side like a flag, staminate branches of its ample panicle are of a lively yellowish green, contrasting with the very distant upright pistillate branches, suggesting a spear with a small flag at the base of its head. It is our wild grain, unharvested.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Zizania (wild rice)
July 27. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, July 27
Peetweet and turtle
eyeing me anxiously – not
minding each other.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, A great devil's-needle alights on my paddle
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 © 2009-2026
https://tinyurl.com/hdt-560727
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