Note 310 — NEW ENGLISH CANAAN OR NEW CANAAN.

Professor Gray of Harvard University has furnished me the following note on this chapter:—

“Unlike Josselyn, the author evidently was not an herbalist, and wrote at random. His pot-marjoram, thyme and balm, though not to be specifically identified, and none of them of the same species as in England, must be represented by our American pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides), a native mint (Mentha borealis), wild basil (Pycnanthemum), and a species of Monarda, sometimes called balm, all sweet herbs of the New England coast. Alexander is hardly to be guessed. Angelica as a genus occurs here, but not the officinal species. Wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis) was probably in view. Purslane is interesting in this connection, adding as it does to the probability that this plant was in the country before the settlement. There are no Anniseeds in New England, and it is impossible to guess what the author meant. It was probably a random statement founded on nothing in particular. The Honeysuckles were doubtless the two species of Azalea to which the name is still applied.” Wood also says (Prospect, pp. 11, 12), “There is likewise growing all manner of Hearbes for meate and medicine, and not only in planted Gardens, but in the woods, without either the art or helpe of man, as sweete Marjoram, Purselane, Sorrell, Peneriall, Yarrow, Myrtle, Saxifarilla, Bayes, &c.” See also Mr. Tuckerman’s introductory matter and notes, in his edition of New England’s Rarities [1865], and Professor Gray’s chapter (vol. i. ch. ii.) on the Flora of Boston and vicinity, and the changes it has undergone, in the Memorial History of Boston.