Yellow Bethlehem-star in prime.
Aphyllon, or orobanche, well out apparently several days.
Nuphar Kalmiana budded above water. Green-briar flower out apparently two or three days. Low blackberry out in low ground.
Whitish Gnaphalium uliginosum [(Marsh Cudweed] See June 24, 1853 ("The Gnaphalium uliginosum seems to be almost in blossom."); July 11, 1853 ("Gnaphalium uliginosum now."): July 17, 1852 ("Gnaphalium uliginosum by the roadside,"); July 24, 1856 ("Some Gnaphalium uliginosum going to seed; how long?")
That very early (or in winter green radical leaf) plant by ash is the myosotis laxa, open since the 28th of May, say June 1st.
Ranunculus repens, say two days out, river being very low. Common cress well out along river.
I am much interested to see how Nature proceeds to heal the wounds where the turf was stripped off this meadow. There are large patches where nothing remained but pure black mud, nearly level or with slight hollows like a plate in it. This the sun and air had cracked into irregular polygonal figures, a foot, more or less, in diameter. The whole surface of these patches here is now covered with a short, soft, and pretty dense moss-like vegetation springing up and clothing it.
The little hollows and the cracks are filled with a very dense growth of reddish grass or sedge, about one inch high, the growth in the cracks making pretty regular figures as in a carpet, while the intermediate spaces are very evenly but much more thinly covered with minute sarothra and whitish Gnaphalium uliginosum. Thus the wound is at once scarred over. Apparently the seeds of that grass were heavier and were washed into the hollows and cracks. Is it likely that the owner has sprinkled seed here?
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 5, 1855
Aphyllon, or orobanche, well out apparently several days. See June 13, 1852 ("Orobanche uniflora, single-flowered broom-rape (Bigelow), [or] Aphyllon uniflorum, one-flowered cancer-root (Gray). C. found it June 12 at Clematis Brook."); June 21, 1852 ("Found the single-flowered broom-rape in Love Lane, under the oak.")
That very early (or in winter green radical leaf) plant by ash is the Myosotis laxa. See June 12, 1852 ("The mouse-ear forget me-not (Myosotis laxa) is one of the most interesting minute flowers. It is the more beautiful for being small and unpretending, for even flowers must be modest.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Mouse-ear forget-me-not
302 Side-flowering Sandwort 303 Flower magnified
(Gray 1859)
Side-flowering sandwort apparently three days out in Clamshell flat meadow.
Some oxalis done, say two or three days, on ditch bank.
Ranunculus repens in prime.
Yellow clover well out some days.
Flowering ferns, reddish-green, show on meadows.
Green oak-balls.
Walking along the upper edge of the flat Clamshell meadow, a bird, probably a song sparrow (for I saw two chipping about immediately after), flew up from between my feet, and I soon found its nest remarkably concealed.
Walking along the upper edge of the flat Clamshell meadow, a bird, probably a song sparrow (for I saw two chipping about immediately after), flew up from between my feet, and I soon found its nest remarkably concealed.
It was under the thickest of the dry river wreck, with an entry low on one side, full five inches long and very obscure. On looking close I detected the eggs from above by looking down through some openings in the wreck about as big as sparrows’ eggs, through which I saw the eggs, five in number. I never saw the nest so perfectly concealed.
I am much interested to see how Nature proceeds to heal the wounds where the turf was stripped off this meadow. There are large patches where nothing remained but pure black mud, nearly level or with slight hollows like a plate in it. This the sun and air had cracked into irregular polygonal figures, a foot, more or less, in diameter. The whole surface of these patches here is now covered with a short, soft, and pretty dense moss-like vegetation springing up and clothing it.
The little hollows and the cracks are filled with a very dense growth of reddish grass or sedge, about one inch high, the growth in the cracks making pretty regular figures as in a carpet, while the intermediate spaces are very evenly but much more thinly covered with minute sarothra and whitish Gnaphalium uliginosum. Thus the wound is at once scarred over. Apparently the seeds of that grass were heavier and were washed into the hollows and cracks. Is it likely that the owner has sprinkled seed here?
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 5, 1855
Yellow Bethlehem-star in prime. See June 15, 1851 ("The Hypoxis erecta, yellow Bethlehem-star, where there is a thick, wiry grass in open path; should be called yellow-eyed grass, methinks.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Yellow Bethlehem-star
Aphyllon, or orobanche, well out apparently several days. See June 13, 1852 ("Orobanche uniflora, single-flowered broom-rape (Bigelow), [or] Aphyllon uniflorum, one-flowered cancer-root (Gray). C. found it June 12 at Clematis Brook."); June 21, 1852 ("Found the single-flowered broom-rape in Love Lane, under the oak.")
Side-flowering sandwort apparently three days out in Clamshell flat meadow. See May 26, 1853 ("Side-flowering sandwort is abundant, for some time, by wall of Lee's field near Garfield's."); June 3, 1859 ("Arenaria lateriflora well out, how long? "); June 6, 1852 ("The side-flowering sandwort, an inconspicuous white flower like a chickweed."); June 10, 1856 ("Side-flowering sandwort abundantly out this side of Dugan Spring."); June 13, 1858 ("Arenaria lateriflora, how long?")
Ranunculus repens in prime. See May 19, 1858 ("R. repens . . . the earliest ranunculus. It is a dense bed of yellow now. I am struck by the light spot in the sinuses of the leaves. "); See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Ranunculus Repens
Some oxalis done. See June 3, 1860 ("These are the clear breezy days of early June, when the leaves are young and few and the sorrel not yet in its prime."); June 6, 1857 ("Now I am ice, now I am sorrel. Each experience reduces itself to a mood of the mind.");See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Wood Sorrel (Oxalis)
Yellow clover well out some days. See May 24, 1852 (" Found in College Yard Trifolium procumbens, or yellow clover."); May 30, 1856 ("Yellow clover abundantly out, though the heads are small yet. Are they quite open?")
A sparrow's nest remarkably concealed . . . the eggs, five in number. See June 9, 1855 ("A song sparrow’s nest low in Wheeler’s meadow, with five eggs, made of grass lined with hair."); June 14, 1855 ("A song sparrow’s nest in ditch bank under Clamshell, of coarse grass lined with fine, and five eggs nearly hatched and a peculiar dark end to them."); see also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Song Sparrow (Fringilla melodia)
I am much interested to see how Nature proceeds to heal the wounds where the turf was stripped off this meadow. See March 28, 1855 ("Over a great many acres, the meadows have been cut up into great squares and other figures by the ice of February, as if ready to be removed"); February 28, 1855 ("This is a powerful agent at work.")
June 5. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, June 5
A bird flies up from
between my feet and I soon
find its concealed nest.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, A sparrow's nest, five eggs.
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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