PRAIRIE-FLOWERS OF EARLY SPRING. 95 



relatives. This disagreeable shrub, to make itself doubly sure of 

 escaping the ravages of foraging animals, has armed itself with multi- 

 tudes of keen prickles upon all its parts. It has won in the race, for 

 in many places on the low land along the streams it occupies the 

 ground to the exclusion of all else of a woody nature. The small- 

 flowered buttercup is an instance of where, in a large genus having 

 mostly showy flowers, the petals of a species may be much reduced. 

 The wild gooseberry is a plant with possibilities that still remain 

 undeveloped. It may have vast resources that only the practical 

 horticulturist can develop in his own time and way. The gooseberry 

 is not the only wild fruit plant that deserves the quickening hand of 

 skill to bring it, in an improved and acceptable form, before the world. 

 Our wild apples, plums, cherries, blackberries, thorn-apples, papaws, 

 huckleberries, cranberries, and an extended list of native fruits, are all 

 hopeful subjects for the fruit-grower. Let any who would begin the 

 work of subjugation look at the results already obtained from the 

 culture of the American grapes. 



The 22d of the month has Astragalus caryocarpus (Ker.) and 

 Celtis occidentalis (L. ) scored against it. The former is a vetch, with 

 a pod so hard and plump that it has taken the common name of 

 "ground-plum." The latter, the hackberry, is a choice tree closely 

 related to the elms, but bearing berry-like fruits instead of those with 

 wings. 



From this time forward the list for each day lengthens. For the 

 23d, the dandelion [Taraxacum officinale, "Weber) ; the two wood- 

 sorrels (Oxalis violacea, L., and 0. corniculata, var. stricta, Sav.) ; 

 false Solomon's-seal (Smilacina stellata, Desp.) ; wild ginger (Asarum 

 Canadensis, L.) ; slippery-elm (Ulmus fulva, Michaux) ; and the wild 

 sweet-william (Phlox divaricata, L. ), make up a full list that ought 

 to satisfy any ambitious collector. If we except the slippery-elm and 

 the dandelion the latter, because it grows as a weed in our lawn and 

 not from any lack of inherent beauty we have five species of spring 

 flowers, strictly so called, and objects of the flower-hunter's eearch. 

 The tyro will be quite sure to find the " prairie phlox " with its high 

 and showy flower-cluster, and likewise he should return with the first 

 of the smilacinas and the sorrels, but no blame will rest upon his head 

 if he oversteps the inconspicuous although large flowers of the wild 

 ginger that shyly keep close upon the ground beneath the plant's large 

 reniform leaves. The next day added the following to the list of 

 plants in flower : Gill or ground-ivy (Nepeta glichoma, Benth.) ; the 

 great bellwort ( Uvularia grandiflora, Smith) ; the little Anemonella 

 thalictroides (Spach.), before mentioned with isopyrum ; and Ostrya 

 Virginica ( Willd.), the hop-hornbeam. The bellwort has the most 

 showy flower of the day, and the hornbeam the least conspicuous. 

 April 25th continues the list as follows : The star-grass (Hypoxis 

 erecta, L.), the old hand-leaf violet ( V. cucidata, var. palmata, Gray), 



