ACADIA NATURE NOTES

FOREWORD

The winter is past, the snows are over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voices of frogs are heard. It is spring in Acadia, "land of the murmuring pines and the hemlocks". Mounting higher and higher, shining longer and longer each day, the warmth-bestowing sun at last is victor over the cold sea water and frozen earth. Then wild flowers which have lain dormant for half the year spring verdantly forth for their one big spread of bloom.

The bare rock ledges and sheltered nooks warm up more quickly than those areas exposed to the cool ocean breezes and make conditions favorable for a diverse flora — a mixture of the southern with the northern forms, a mixture such as is found in no other area.

This booklet is intended for the amateur who knows a few flowers and wishes to knew more. It is in no sense a complete list, and omission of a flower does not mean that it is absent from our flora. It may not be common enough or it may bloom later than the arbitrary and indefinite period of "Early Spring". Those familiar with this region know that there is no such thing as early spring.

Acadia National Park is a sanctuary for all wild flowers, and picking or disturbing of any trees or other plants is prohibited, no matter how common.

Maurice Sullivan,
Park Naturalist.