*Leatherwood.* _Dirca palustris._ *Moosewood.* Found in light moist woodlands in April. A shrub, from 2 to 4, or 5, feet in height, branching in an angular fashion; the smooth close bark is very flexible and tough, gray-brown, and slightly shining, dotted with lighter color. The oval leaf is entire, strong-fibred, and smooth, and set on a very short stem. The arrangement is generally alternate, and the color a full green. The small tubular flower, with slightly notched edges, and a thin texture, is of a beautiful golden yellow color; the 8 orange-tipped stamens and the pistil hang from the mouth of the tube. The flowers droop in small clusters from the hold of three or four bracts which are beautifully smooth and green on the inside, and thickly covered with a fine purplish down on the outside; they are set irregularly along the branches. It is stated in Gray’s _Manual_ there are as many temporary bracts as there are flowers, but no hard and fast rule is observed in nature in such details; according to personal observation 4 is the usual number. These bracts fall as soon as the leaves push forth. It is noted that the flowers lose their color as the leaf-buds swell, although they do not wither until the leaves are unrolling. The bark is so elastic and tough that a knot may be tied, without its breaking, in a stem as big as the little finger. The first glimpse of this gray bush strung with its golden jewels and never a trace of green about its branches, gives a pleasure akin to the more spiritual delight of beholding the Wych Hazel which occupies the same place in nature at the other end of the flower year. [Illustration: LEATHERWOOD: Dirca palustris.] SWEET-GALE FAMILY. MYRICACEÆ. *Sweet-fern.* _Myrica asplenifolia._ Found in April, on dry uplands and along copse borders. A tough-fibred bush, from 1 to 2 feet high, with many low branches, very leafy, the bark rough, and reddish, or when old covered by a gray bloom. The long narrow leaf is cut to the midrib into many narrow and irregular lobes, with an entire or slightly notched margin, and a thin texture; the surface is smooth above, and rough underneath; the color a cool strong green. The leaves are set on short foot-stems, placed irregularly and close together. They come following after the flower catkins. The pistil-bearing flowers gathered in an inconspicuous crimson cluster, like a scrubby little paint brush, and the stamen-bearing flowers, borne in the form of a slender green and brown catkin, are often found on the same plant; they grow close to the ends of the stalk in small groups.