353 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



remarkably small stem, much as if a wire had been dressed with leaves 

 for festal uses. The upper part of the stem is so closely surrounded 

 with the compact flowers, that it is literally a purple raceme or wand. 

 Cultivated in mass, in a dry soil, this aster would glow like a sheet of 

 purple flame. 



And why is the very common, yet very stately, gentian over- 

 looked? This plant is positively unique in character. A single stem 

 set amid green leaves, with cerulean gems, is a thyrsus worthy of a 

 god. But there is a quaint, coyish modesty about it its singular 

 flowers seem to be always in bud, as if too coy to blossom outright. 



And what charming terrestrial orchids are found native but, con- 

 cerning this, there, is but space for a word. These singular indigenous 

 flowers so lovely, and yet so eccentric are represented by a large 

 number of species. They may be called pretty, winning little oddities. 

 They would need some skill, perhaps, in their cultivation ; and some 

 might come to be regarded as the coquettes of the floral community, 

 jilting the gardener with futile promises. Last summer, we took up 

 with our fingers a pretty specimen of the Calopogon pulchellus, which 

 means the Beautiful Little Beard. It had but one tiny scape, growing 

 from a green bulb which lay in the moss, much like a solitary egg in a 

 bird's-nest. The entire plant, with its marvellous flower, was not 

 more than six inches high. Our heart failed us in an attempt to put it 

 in the press as a specimen ; so we planted it in a little pot, attached to 

 it a label bearing its scientific name, for popular name it had not, and 

 then put it on the glass case on the counter of the apothecary. It 

 was a pleasant surprise to everybody who saw it. Many were the 

 ejaculatory commendations received by the little stranger with the 

 purple hood, and the quaint little beard of so grotesque dyes of pink, 

 and yellow, and white. The pretty stranger was unanimously voted 

 " charming ; " and was by some taken to be a rare exotic, that had 

 grown up under the professor's care. Besides this, we have among 

 our native orchids the equally pretty Pogonia and Arethusa ; while, 

 worthy of any conservatory, are the white fringed and the yellow 

 fringed Rein-orchis, both of the genus Habenaria. Mention might be 

 made of the Lady's Slipper, the showy and rather ostentatious Ct/pre- 

 peclium ; but the list is a long one. These native orchids are all ec- 

 centricities, and we have selected the most lovable, and the most 

 easily attainable in fact, those the nearest to our hands. 



Just as the above was written, the usual monthly report of the 

 Department of Agriculture came to hand. The following paragraphs 

 are so much to the purpose, that it would be nothing less than blame- 

 worthy not to quote them. Speaking of American plants in Great 

 Britain, it cites an English journal as saying : " The beautiful Ascle- 

 jxlas tuberosa is, this season, producing freely its showy, bright orange- 

 colored flowers in several collections round London. This fine peren- 

 nial thrives perfectly well almost anywhere, if planted in sandy peat." 



