A Book of the Seasons: The Witch Hazel (under consruction)

  I would make a chart of our life,

know why just this circle of creatures completes the world.

Henry Thoreau,

April 18, 1852

Witch-hazel in prime –

yellow leaves by their color

concealing flowers.

October 4, 1858

The witch-hazel has one of the broadest leaves now. May 11, 1859,

The witch-hazel on Dwarf Sumach Hill looks as if it would begin to blossom in a day or two. September 8, 1854

Witch-hazel out, maybe a day or two, in some places,  but the Browns do not think the fringed gentian out yet. September 8, 1856 (Brattleboro)

Witch-hazel opened –

a third or half of its leaves

are yellow and brown.

The witch-hazel has opened since the 8th; say 11th. (It was abundantly out yesterday on Wachusett Mountain, where it is probably more exposed to the sun and drier. Sophia was there.) Its leaves, a third or a half of them, are yellow and brown. September 15, 1854

The witch-hazel at Conantum just begun here and there; some may have been out two or three days. Yet I saw the witch-hazel out in Brattleboro September 8th, then apparently for a day or two .

 It is still a question, perhaps, though unquestionably the gentian is now far more generally out here than the hazel. September 18, 1856

The witch-hazel fruit appears to be now opening. The double-fruited stone splits and reveals the two shining black oblong seeds. It has a peculiarly formed nut, in pretty clusters, clothed, as it were, in close-fitting buckskin, amid the now yellowing leaves. September 18, 1859

From the observation of this year I should say that the fringed gentian opened before the witch-hazel.  September 18, 1859

Heard in the night a snapping sound and the fall of some small body on the floor from time to time. In the morning I found that it was produced by the witch-hazel nuts on my desk springing open and casting their seeds quite across the chamber, hard and stony as these nuts are.  For several days they are shooting their shining black seeds about my chamber.  September 21, 1859

 

I suspect that it is not when the witch-hazel nut first gapes open that the seeds fly out, for I see many (if not most of them) open first with the seeds in them; but when I release a seed (it being still held by its base), it flies as I have said. I think that its slippery base is compressed by the unyielding shell, which at length expels it, just as I can make one fly by pressing it and letting it slip from between my thumb and finger. It appears to fit close to the shell at its base, even after the shell gapes. 

September 21, 1859

Witch-hazel well out.   September 24, 1853

Witch-hazel two thirds yellowed. September 27, 1857

The witch-hazel at Lee's Cliff, in a fair situation, has but begun to blossom; has not been long out, so that I think it must be later than the gentian. Its leaves are yellowed.   September 29, 1853

October 2.   The white pines have scarcely begun at all to change here, though a week ago last Wednesday they were fully changed at Bangor. There is fully a fortnight's difference, and methinks more. The witch-hazel, too, was more forward there. October 2, 1853

October 2.  The gentian in Hubbard's Close is frost-bitten extensively. As the witch-hazel is raised above frost and can afford to be later, for this reason also I think it is so.  October 2, 1853

Witch-hazel in prime,

Yellow leaves by their color

conceal the flowers.

October 4. Witch-hazel apparently at height of change, yellow below, green above, the yellow leaves by their color concealing the flowers. The flowers, too, are apparently in prime. The leaves are often richly spotted reddish and greenish brown. October 4, 1858

The witch-hazel here

is in full blossom on this

magical hillside.

October 9.  The witch-hazel here is in full blossom on this magical hillside, while its broad yellow leaves are falling. Some bushes are completely bare of leaves, and leather-colored they strew the ground. It is an extremely interesting plant, — October and November's child, and yet reminds me of the very earliest spring. Its blossoms smell like the spring, like the willow catkins; by their color as well as fragrance they belong to the saffron dawn of the year, suggesting amid all these signs of autumn, falling leaves and frost, that the life of Nature, by which she eternally flourishes, is untouched. It stands here in the shadow on the side of the hill, while the sunlight from over the top of the hill lights up its topmost sprays and yellow blossoms. Its spray, so jointed and angular, is not to be mistaken for any other. I lie on my back with joy under its boughs. While its leaves fall, its blossoms spring. The autumn, then, is indeed a spring. All the year is a spring . . .When I was thinking that it bloomed too late for bees or other insects to extract honey from its flowers, – that perchance they yielded no honey, – I saw a bee upon it. How important, then, to the bees this late-blossoming plant! October 9, 1851

October 10. The blossoming of spring flowers, — not to mention the witch-hazel, — the notes of spring birds, the springing of grain and grass and other plants. October 10, 1851

October 10.  As I stood amid the witch-hazels near Flint's Pond, a flock of a dozen chickadees came flitting and singing about me with great ado, — a most cheering and enlivening sound, — with incessantday-day-dayand a fine wiry strain between whiles, flitting ever nearer and nearer and nearer, inquisitively, till the boldest was within five feet of me; then suddenly, their curiosity satiated, they flit by degrees further away and disappear, and I hear with regret their retreatingday-day-days.  October 10, 1851

October 11.  Witch-hazel, grape, smooth sumach, and common hazel are partly fallen, — some of the first-named wholly, — yet full of bloom. It is a cool seat under the witch-hazel in full bloom, which has lost its leaves! The leaves are greenish and brownish yellow. October 11, 1858

October 13.  I perceive the peculiar scent of the witch-hazel in bloom for several rods around, which at first I refer to the decaying leaves. October 13, 1859

October 16. Am surprised to find an abundance of witch-hazel, now at the height of its change, where S. Wheeler cut off, at the bend of the Assabet. The tallest bushes are bare, though in bloom, but the lowest are full of leaves, many of them green, but chiefly clear and handsome yellow of various shades, from a pale lemon in the shade or within the bush to a darker and warmer yellow with out. Some are even a hue of crimson; some green, with bright yellow along the veins.  October 16, 1857

October 18. By the brook, witch-hazel, as an underwood, is in the height of its change, but elsewhere exposed large bushes are bare. October 18, 1858

October 19. Wachusett Mountain.The prevailing tree on this mountain, top and all, is apparently the red oak, which toward and on the top is very low and spreading. On the sides, beside red oak, are rock maple, yellow birch, lever-wood, beech, chestnut, shagbark, hemlock, striped maple, witch-hazel, etc., etc.  October 19, 1854

October 19. Witch-hazel is  in prime, or probably a little past, though some buds are not yet open. Their leaves are all gone. They form large clumps on the hillside there, even thirty to fifty stems from one to two or three inches in diameter and the highest twelve feet high, falling over on every side. The now imbrowned ferns around indicate the moist soil which they like. October 19, 1856

October 19, 2018

October 19.  Many witch-hazel nuts are not yet open. The bushes just bare. October 19, 1859

October 20.  The witch-hazel is bare of all but flowers.  October 20, 1852

October 23, 2020

October 23. The sprays of the witch-hazel are sprinkled on the air, and recurved. October 23, 1852

October 23.  I can find no bright leaves now in the woods. Witch hazel, etc., are withered, turned brown, or yet green. October 23, 1857

October 26.  The witch-hazel is still freshly in flower. October 26, 1855

November 1.  The witch-hazels have mostly lost their blossoms, perhaps on account of the snow. November 1, 1851

November 1. I see much witch-hazel in the swamp by the south end of the Abiel Wheeler grape meadow. Some of it is quite fresh and bright. Its bark is alternate white and smooth reddish-brown, the small twigs looking as if gossamer had lodged on and draped them. What a lively spray it has, both in form and color! Truly it looks as if it would make divining-rods, – as if its twigs knew where the true gold was and could point to it. The gold is in their late blossoms. Let them alone and they never point down to earth. They impart to the whole hillside a speckled, parti-colored look.  November 1, 1857

November 2. The witch-hazel appears to be nearly out of bloom, most of the flowers withering or frost-bitten. November 2, 1853

November 4. Saw witch-hazels out of bloom, some still fresh.  November 4, 1852

November 6. The witch-hazel spray is peculiar and interesting, with little knubs at short intervals, zig zag, crinkle-crankle. How happens it? Did the leaves grow so close? The bud is long against the stem, with a neck to it.   November 6, 1853

November 14.  Probably the witch-hazel and many other flowers lingered till the 11th, when it was colder. The last leaves and flowers (?) may be said to fall about the middle of November. November 14, 1858

November 15. The river has risen yet higher than last night, so that I cut across Hubbard's meadow with ease. Take up a witch-hazel with still some fresh blossoms. November 15, 1853

November 24. At Spanish Brook Path, the witch-hazel (one flower) lingers.  November 24, 1859

December 9. A few petals of the witch-hazel still hold on. A man tells me he saw a violet to-day. December 9, 1852

December 19. The witch-hazel is covered with fruit and drops over gracefully like a willow, the yellow foundation of its flowers still remaining. December 19, 1850

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The Witch-Hazel

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

The witch-hazel in flower.

September 15.

The witch-hazel has opened since the 8th; say 11th. 

(It was abundantly out yesterday on Wachusett Mountain, where it is probably more exposed to the sun and drier. Sophia was there.)

Its leaves, a third or a half of them, are yellow and brown. 

September 15, 2014

Solidago speciosa at Clamshell out several days.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 15, 1854

The witch-hazel has opened since the 8th; say 11th. See September 8, 1854 ("The witch-hazel on Dwarf Sumach Hill looks as if it would begin to blossom in a day or two."); September 8, 1856 ("Witch-hazel out, maybe a day or two, in some places,"); September 18, 1856 (The witch-hazel at Conantum just begun here and there; some may have been out two or three days.Yet I saw the witch-hazel out in Brattleboro September 8th, then apparently for a day or two ."); September 29, 1853 ("The witch-hazel at Lee's Cliff, in a fair situation, has but begun to blossom; has not been long out, so that I think it must be later than the gentian. Its leaves are yellowed.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Witch-Hazel

Solidago speciosa at Clamshell out several days. See September 27, 1856 (“To Clamshell by boat. Solidago speciosa not quite out!!”); September 29, 1853 ("Solidago speciosa out in Hubbard's Swamp . . .say ten days ago. This must be a late one, then.");  October 2, 1856 ("Solidago speciosa completely out, though not a flower was out September 27th)

September 15. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, September 15

Witch-hazel opened –

a third or half of its leaves

are yellow and brown.

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The witch-hazel in flower.

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 © 2009-2024

https://tinyurl.com/hdt-540915

The gentian in Hubbard's Close is frost-bitten

October 2 


Sunday. 

The gentian in Hubbard's Close is frost-bitten extensively. As the witch-hazel is raised above frost and can afford to be later, for this reason also I think it is so. 

The white pines have scarcely begun at all to change here, though a week ago last Wednesday they were fully changed at Bangor. There is fully a fortnight's difference, and methinks more. The witch-hazel, too, was more forward there. 

There are but few and faint autumnal tints about Walden yet. The smooth sumach is but a dull red.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, October 2, 1853

The gentian in Hubbard's Close is frost-bitten extensively. See October 2, 1857 ("The fringed gentian at Hubbard's Close has been out some time, and most of it already withered"); See also September 29, 1857 ("All sorts of men come to Cattle-Show. I see one with a blue hat. I hear that some have gathered fringed gentian. Pines have begun to be parti-colored with yellow leaves. "); October 1, 1858 ("The fringed gentians are now in prime."); October 19, 1852 (“ It is too remarkable a flower not to be sought out and admired each year, . . . this conspicuous and handsome and withal blue flower . . . the latest of all to begin to bloom, unless it be the witch-hazel. ”) and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Fringed Gentian.

The witch-hazel.  See October 4, 1858 ("Witch-hazel apparently at height of change, yellow below, green above, the yellow leaves by their color concealing the flowers. The flowers, too, are apparently in prime"); October 9, 1851 ("The witch-hazel here is in full blossom on this magical hillside."); October 11, 1858 ("Witch-hazel in full bloom, which has lost its leaves!"); October 13, 1859 ("I perceive the peculiar scent of the witch-hazel in bloom"); October 18, 1858 ("By the brook, witch-hazel, as an underwood, is in the height of its change, but elsewhere exposed large bushes are bare"); October 20, 1852 ("The witch-hazel is bare of all but flowers") 

The white pines have scarcely begun at all to change here. See October 2, 1851 ("Some of the white pines on Fair Haven Hill have just reached the acme of their fall; others have almost entirely shed their leaves, and they are scattered over the ground and the walls"); October 2, 1859 ("So many maple and pine and other leaves have now fallen that in the woods, at least, you walk over a carpet of fallen leaves."); See also  September 21, 1853 ("The white pines near Bangor perfectly parti-colored and falling to-day."); October 1, 1857 ("The pines now half turned yellow, the needles of this year are so much the greener by contrast"); October 3, 1852 ("The pine fall, i.e. change, is commenced, and the trees are mottled green and yellowish"); October 3, 1856 (" The white pines are now getting to be pretty generally parti-colored, the lower yellowing needles ready to fall ."); October 3, 1858 ("White pines fairly begin to change.") and  A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The October Pine Fall

There are but few and faint autumnal tints about Walden yet.  See October 2, 1857 ("Generally speaking, it is only the edge or pediment of the woods that shows the bright autumnal tints yet"). Compare October 1, 1852 (" Young trees and bushes by the water and meadows are generally beginning to glow red and yellow. The young and tender trees begin to assume the autumnal tints more generally."); October 1, 1854 ("The young black birches about Walden, next the south shore, are now commony clear pale yellow, very distinct at distance, like bright-yellow white birches, so slender amid the dense growth of oaks and evergreens on the steep shores."); October 3, 1856 ("Especially the hillsides about Walden begin to wear these autumnal tints in the cooler air."); October 3, 1858 ("About the pond I see maples of all their tints, and black birches (on the southwest side) clear pale yellow.")

The smooth sumach is but a dull red. See  October 2, 1856 ("The mountain sumach now a dark scarlet quite generally."); see also October 3, 1852 ("The sumachs are generally crimson (darker than scarlet")

October 2. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau,  October 2

Long changed at Bangor

white pines have scarcely begun

 at all to change here.

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Gentian in Hubbard's Close

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

https://tinyurl.com/hdt-18531002 

The witch-hazel here is in full blossom on this magical hillside. (All the year is a spring.)

 October 9

October 9, 2023

Heard two screech owls in the night.

Boiled a quart of acorns for breakfast, but found them not so palatable as raw, having acquired a bitterish taste, per chance from being boiled with the shells and skins; yet one would soon get accustomed to this.

The sound of foxhounds in the woods, heard now, at 9 A. M., in the village, reminds me of mild winter mornings.

2 P. M. - To Conantum.

In the maple woods the ground is strewn with new fallen leaves.

I hear the green locust again on the alders of the causeway, but he is turned a straw-color. The warm weather has revived them.

All the acorns on the same tree are not equally sweet. They appear to dry sweet.

From Conantum I see them getting hay from the meadow below the Cliffs. It must have been quite dry when cut.

The black ash has lost its leaves, and the white here is dry and brownish yellow, not having turned mulberry.

I see half a dozen snakes in this walk, green and striped (one very young striped one), who appear to be out enjoying the sun. They appear to make the most of the last warm days of the year.

The hills and plain on the opposite side of the river are covered with deep warm red leaves of shrub oaks.

On Lee's hillside by the pond, the old leaves of some pitch pines are almost of a golden-yellow hue, seen in the sunlight, a rich autumnal look. The green are, as it were, set in the yellow.

***

October 9, 2023

The witch-hazel here is in full blossom on this magical hillside, while its broad yellow leaves are falling. Some bushes are completely bare of leaves, and leather-colored they strew the ground.

It is an extremely interesting plant, — October and November's child, and yet reminds me of the very earliest spring. Its blossoms smell like the spring, like the willow catkins; by their color as well as fragrance they belong to the saffron dawn of the year, suggesting amid all these signs of autumn, falling leaves and frost, that the life of Nature, by which she eternally flourishes, is untouched.

It stands here in the shadow on the side of the hill, while the sunlight from over the top of the hill lights up its topmost sprays and yellow blossoms. Its spray, so jointed and angular, is not to be mistaken for any other.

I lie on my back with joy under its boughs. 

While its leaves fall, its 

blossoms spring. The autumn, then, 

is indeed a spring.

All the year is a spring.

I see two blackbirds high overhead, going south, but I am going north in my thought with these hazel blossoms.  It is a faery place.

This is a part of the immortality of the soul.

When I was thinking that it bloomed too late for bees or other insects to extract honey from its flowers, – that perchance they yielded no honey, – I saw a bee upon it. How important, then, to the bees this late-blossoming plant!

October 9, 2023

***

The circling hawk steers himself through the air, like the skater, without a visible motion.

The hoary cinquefoil in blossom.

A large sassafras tree behind Lee's, two feet diameter at ground.

As I return over the bridge, I hear a song sparrow singing on the willows exactly as in spring.

I see a large sucker rise to the surface of the river.

I hear the crickets singing loudly in the walls as they have not done (so loudly) for some weeks, while the sun is going down shorn of his rays by the haze.

There is a thick bed of leaves in the road under Hubbard's elms.

This reminds me of Cato, as if the ancients made more use of nature.
He says, “ Stramenta si deerunt, frondem iligneam legito, eam substernito ovibus bubusque.” (If litter is wanting, gather the leaves of the holm oak and strew them under your sheep and oxen.) In another place he says, “Circum vias ulmos serito, et partim populos, uti frondem ovibus et bubus habeas.” 

I suppose they were getting that dry meadow grass for litter. There is little or no use made by us of the leaves of trees, not even for beds, unless it be sometimes to rake them up in the woods and cast into hog-pens or compost-heaps.

Cut a stout purple cane of pokeweed.

H. D, Thoreau, Journal, October 9, 1851

The witch-hazel here is in full blossom on this magical hillside. See October 4, 1858 ("Witch-hazel apparently at height of change, yellow below, green above, the yellow leaves by their color concealing the flowers. The flowers, too, are apparently in prime."); October 11, 1858 ("Witch-hazel in full bloom, which has lost its leaves! "); October 13, 1859 ("I perceive the peculiar scent of the witch-hazel in bloom "); October 18, 1858 ("By the brook, witch-hazel, as an underwood, is in the height of its change, but elsewhere exposed large bushes are bare"); October 20, 1852 ("The witch-hazel is bare of all but flowers") See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The Witch-Hazel

I was thinking that it bloomed too late for bees or other insects. See Bernd Heinrich, “Thermoregulation in Winter Moths.” Sci. Am 277: 73–83 (1987. ); Anderson & Hill (2002)("Given the morphology of H. virginiana flowers, the exposed glistening staminodes where a thin film of nectar is produced, the small exposed floral parts, the sugar ratio, and documented visits to some of the flowers open in late September or early October, small bees are also potential pollinators") and The Pollination Puzzle of American Witch Hazel (December 2020)

Heard two screech owls in the night. See September 9, 1859 ("Within a week I think I have heard screech owls at evening from over the river once or twice."); October 28, 1855 ("As I paddle under the Hemlock bank this cloudy afternoon, about 3 o’clock, I see a screech owl sitting on the edge of a hollow hemlock stump about three feet high, at the base of a large hemlock. . . . So I spring round quickly, with my arm outstretched, and catch it in my hand. "); November 24, 1858 ("I hear a screech owl in Wheeler’s wood by the railroad, and I heard one a few evenings ago at home") and note to September 23, 1855 ("I hear from my chamber a screech owl — a loud, piercing scream, much like the whinny of a colt.") See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Screech Owl

Deep warm red leaves of shrub oaks. See October 1, 1859 ("The shrub oaks on this hill are now at their height, both with respect to their tints and their fruit."); November 25, 1858 ("Most shrub oaks there have lost their leaves (Quercus ilicifolia), which, very fair and perfect, cover the ground. "); November 29, 1857 ("Again I am struck by the singularly wholesome colors of the withered oak leaves, especially the shrub oak, so thick and firm and unworn, without speck or fret, clear reddish-brown (sometimes paler or yellowish brown), its whitish under sides contrasting with it in a very cheerful manner."); December 1. 1856 ("The dear wholesome color of shrub oak leaves, so clean and firm, not decaying, but which have put on a kind of immortality, not wrinkled and thin like the white oak leaves, but full-veined and plump, as nearer earth. Well-tanned leather on the one side, sun-tanned, color of colors, color of the cow and the deer, silver-downy beneath, turned toward the late bleached and russet fields . . .The shrub oak, lowly, loving the earth and spreading over it, tough, thick-leaved; leaves firm and sound in winter and rustling like leather shields; leaves fair and wholesome to the eye, clean and smooth to the touch.")

On Lee's hillside by the pond, the old leaves of some pitch pines are almost of a golden-yellow hue, seen in the sunlight, a rich autumnal look. The green are, as it were, set in the yellow. See October 19, 1856 ("The rich sunny yellow of the old pitch pine needles, just ready to fall, contrasting with the new and unmixed masses above, makes a very pleasing impression, as I look down into the hollows this side of Lee's Cliff");  October 23, 1852 ("The white pines have shed their leaves, making a yellow carpet on the grass, but the pitch pines are yet parti-colored.")

The witch-hazel here is in full blossom on this magical hillside. See October 4, 1858 ("Witch-hazel apparently at height of change, yellow below, green above, the yellow leaves by their color concealing the flowers. The flowers, too, are apparently in prime. The leaves are often richly spotted reddish and greenish brown"); October 13, 1859 (" I perceive the peculiar scent of the witch-hazel in bloom for several rods around") See alsoA Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The Witch-Hazel

 The hoary cinquefoil in blossom. See October 9, 1852 ("Touch-me-not, self-heal, Bidens cernua, ladies'-tresses, cerastium, dwarf tree-primrose, butter and-eggs (abundant), prenanthes, sium, silvery cinque-foil, mayweed.") See also June 23, 1851 ("P. argentea, hoary cinquefoil, also is now in blossom.")

A large sassafras tree behind Lee's, two feet diameter at ground. See October 5, 1857 ("Am surprised to see a large sassafras tree, with its rounded umbrella-like top, without limbs beneath, on the west edge of the Yellow Birch Swamp, or east of Boulder Field. It is some sixteen inches in diameter"); March 3, 1859 ("Channing tells me he has met with a sassafras tree in New Bedford woods, which, according to a string which he put round it, is eleven and three quarters feet in circumference at about three feet from the ground.") See also September 28, 1854 ("The sassafras trees on the hill are now wholly a bright orange scarlet as seen from my window, and the small ones elsewhere are also changed.") September 30, 1854 ("I detect the sassafras by its peculiar orange scarlet half a mile distant.")

I hear a song sparrow singing on the willows exactly as in spring. See October 8, 1856 ("A song sparrow utters a full strain"); October 26, 1855 ("The song sparrow still sings on a button-bush.") See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Song Sparrow (Fringilla melodia)

Cut a stout purple cane of pokeweed. See August 23, 1853 ("Poke stems are now ripe. . . .Their stems are a deep, rich purple with a bloom, contrasting with the clear green leaves. Its stalks, thus full of purple wine, are one of the fruits of autumn. . . .I could spend the evening of the year musing amid the poke stems"); August 26, 1856 ("I tie my bundle with the purple bark of the poke-weed."); October 5, 1857 ("There is a great abundance of poke [on Eb Hubbard's hill]. That lowest down the hill, killed by frost, drooping and withered, no longer purple-stemmed, but faded; higher up it is still purple.")

The circling hawk steers himself through the air, like the skater, without a visible motion. See September 17, 1839 ("The wise man. . . each moment abides there where he is, as some walkers actually rest the whole body at each step")

The witch-hazel here

is in full blossom on this

magical hillside.

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Witch hazel in bloom

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 © 2009-2024

https://tinyurl.com/HDT511009

Chestnuts

December 9

December 9, 2022

Those little ruby-crowned wrens (?) still about. They suddenly dash away from this side to that in flocks, with a tumultuous note, half jingle, half rattle, like nuts shaken in a bag, or a bushel of nutshells, soon returning to the tree they had forsaken on some alarm. They are oftenest seen on the white birch, apparently feeding on its seeds, scattering the scales about. 

A fresh dandelion.

The chestnuts are almost as plenty as ever, both in the fallen burs and out of them. There are more this year than the squirrels can consume. I pick three pints this afternoon, still plump and tender. I love to gather them, if only for the sense of the bountifulness of nature they give me.

A few petals of the witch-hazel still hold on. 

A man tells me he saw a violet to-day.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, December 9, 1852

Those little ruby-crowned wrens (?) still about. See November 21, 1852 ("The commonest bird I see and hear nowadays is that little red crowned or fronted bird I described the 13th. I hear now more music from them. They have a mewing note which reminds me of a canary-bird. They make very good forerunners of winter."); December 19, 1854 ("A large flock of Fringilla linaria over the meadow. . . . Common as they are now, and were winter before last , I saw none last winter.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Lesser Redpoll

The chestnuts are almost as plenty as ever, both in the fallen burs and out of them. See November 28, 1856 ("Unexpectedly find many chestnuts in the burs which have fallen some time ago. ")

A few petals of the witch-hazel still hold on. See October 20, 1852 ("The witch-hazel is bare of all but flowers"); October 23, 1852 ("The sprays of the witch-hazel are sprinkled on the air, and recurved."); November 4, 1852 ("Saw witch-hazels out of bloom, some still fresh:); November 15, 1853 (" Take up a witch-hazel with still some fresh blossoms."); November 24, 1859 ("At Spanish Brook Path, the witch-hazel (one flower) lingers. "); December 19, 1850 ("The witch-hazel is covered with fruit and drops over gracefully like a willow, the yellow foundation of its flowers still remaining.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Witch-Hazel

A man tells me he saw a violet to-day. See December 12, 1852 ("Saw a violet on the C. Miles road where the bank had been burned in the fall.")

It is a cool seat under the witch-hazel in full bloom, which has lost its leaves!

October 11. 

P. M. — To Conantum. 

The autumnal tints have not been so bright as usual this year, but why it is hard to say. [?? Perhaps they were later (?).]

The summer has been peculiarly cool, as well as wet, and it may be that the leaves have been the more inclined to decay before coming to maturity. Also, apparently, many leaves are killed by the mere frosts before ripening, the locust for instance, — and the frost came early this year, — just as melons and squashes before they have turned yellow; i.e. the leaves fall while they are still green. 

I observe the small cornel or bunch-berry conspicuously green now, like wintergreen and evergreen in the woods, amid the changed or withered foliage of the forest floor. Yet I have seen it purple (?) in the winter; me thinks. 

See a small flock of cowbirds (?), with at any rate conspicuously drab head and shoulders, — the rest black. 

What were those slender sparrow-like birds which went off singly from the sides of Conantum hills, with a sharp chit chit, a peculiar note, flying somewhat like a goldfinch but not quite so ricochet? They are quite shy.

Witch-hazel, grape, smooth sumach, and common hazel are partly fallen, — some of the first-named wholly, — yet full of bloom. It is a cool seat under the witch-hazel in full bloom, which has lost its leaves! The leaves are greenish and brownish yellow. 

Witch-hazel October 12, 2018

White pines are apparently ready to fall. Some are much paler brown than others. 

October 10, 2018

The small botrychium has shed pollen apparently within ten days. 

The Viburnum Lentago is generally a dull red on a green ground, but its leaves are yet quite fresh. 

See a white-throat sparrow.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, October 11, 1858

Witch-hazel in full bloom, which has lost its leaves!  See  October 4, 1858 ("Witch-hazel apparently at height of change, yellow below, green above, the yellow leaves by their color concealing the flowers. The flowers, too, are apparently in prime.") ; . October 20, 1852 ("The witch-hazel is bare of all but flowers")

White pines are apparently ready to fall.  See October 12, 1852 ("A new carpet of pine leaves is forming in the woods"); October 13, 1855 ("A thick carpet of white pine needles lies now lightly, half an inch or more in thickness, above the dark-reddish ones of last year"); October 14, 1856 ("Pine-needles, just fallen, now make a thick carpet ."); October 16, 1854 ("The pines, too, have fallen"). Also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The October Pine Fall ("There is a season when pine leaves are yellow, and when they are fallen.")

The Viburnum Lentago is generally a dull red on a green ground, but its leaves are yet quite fresh. See . October 23, 1853 ("Viburnum Lentago, with ripe berries and dull-glossy red leaves");. October 31, 1858 ("The Viburnum Lentago is about bare") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Viburnum lentago (nannyberry)