Dear Colleagues:<div><br></div><div>Dr. Richard Primack (Boston University) published an Op-ed piece in The New York TImes yesterday entitled, "Early Bloomers" (4/19/12). It seems his lab (in association with colleagues at Harvard) has been recording the flowering periods of herbs and shrubs around H.D. Thoreau's Walden and in Concord, in general. As expected, they found that many species were blooming far earlier than usual, over a period of decades, and some had become very rare (or locally extinct). As regards rarity, Prof. Primack acknowledges human-indcued changes to the landscape but the entire tone of the article blames declines in wildflower density and diversity on the effects of global warming. Primack quotes notes kept by Thoreau but avoids mentioning a famous essay by E.B. White (written in mid-20th century) about his visit to Walden and how he found things there less than pristine and simple. As you can see, I'm a bit disturbed by the tone of "Early Bloomers" on educated readers in the total absence of corroborative evidence. Primack decries the rarity of swamp orchids but makes no comment on whether the Concord water table has changed with "development?" He also makes claims about the current distribution and flowering behavior of several species that I find odd. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Sorry I can't provide a link. We still get the paper edition of TNYT for my 88-year old Mommy. I'm a mean botanist but a relatively good son.</div><div><br></div><div>Peter Bernhardt</div>