1851 in Thoreau’s Journal:

To-day the milk-weed is blossoming.

1852 in Thoreau’s Journal:

Men will travel to the Nile to see the lotus flower, who have never seen in their glory the lotuses of their native streams.

1858 in Thoreau’s Journal:

What a relief and expansion of my thoughts when I come out from that inland position by the grave yard to this broad river’s shore!….It is equal to a different season and country and creates a different mood.