142 THE PLANT WOELD 



liave a native August flower quite as brilliant as the hawkweed just 

 described, and far less a usurper; I refer to meadow-beauty, a Rhexia^ 

 found near tbe coast, whicli suggests a scarlet evening-primrose. 



Nature has, for the most part, lost her delicate tints in August. 

 She is tanned, hirsute, freckled, like one long exposed to the sun. Her 

 touch is strong and vivid. The coarser, commoner way-side flowers 

 now appear — vervain, Eupatorium, Mimulus, the various mints, white- 

 weed, asters, golden-rod, thistles, fireweed, mulleins, motherwort, cat- 

 nip, blueweed, turtle-head, sunflowers, clematis, evening-primrose, 

 lobelia, gerardia, and, in the marshes of the lower Hudson, marshmal- 

 lows, and vast masses of the purple loosestrife. Mass and intensity 

 take the place of delicacy and furtiveness. The spirit of Nature has 

 grown bold and aggressive; it is rank and coarse; she flaunts her weeds 

 in our faces. She wears a thistle on her bosom. But I must not for- 

 get the delicate rose-gerardia, which she also wears upon her bosom, 

 and which suggests that, before the season closes, Nature is getting her 

 hand ready for her delicate spring flora. With me this gerardia lines 

 open paths over dry knolls in the woods, and its little purple bells and 

 smooth slender leaves form one of the most exquisite tangles of flowers 

 and foliage of the whole summer. It is August matching the color and 

 delicacy of form of the fringed polygala of May. 



One may still gather the matchless white pond-lily in this month, 

 though it is in the height of its glory earlier in the season, except in 

 the northern lakes. 



A very delicate and beautiful marsh flower which may be found on 

 the borders of lakes in northern New York and New England is the 

 horned-bladderwort, yellow, fragrant, and striking in form, like a mini- 

 ature old-fashioned bonnet, when bonnets covered the head and pro- 

 jected beyond the face, instead of hovering doubtfully above the scalp. 

 The horn curves down and out like a long chin from a face hidden 

 within the bonnet. I have found this rare flower in the Adirondacks 

 and in Maine. It can doubtless be found in Canada, and in Michigan 

 and Wisconsin. It is the most fragrant August flower known to me. 

 This month has not many fragrant flowers to boast of. Besides the 

 above and the pond-lily I recall two others — the small purple-fringed 



orchis and a species of lady's-tresses {Spiranthes cernua). 



******** 



August days are for the most part tranquil days; the fret and hurry 

 of the season are over. We are on the threshold of autumn. 



Nature dreams and meditates; her veins no longer thrill with the 

 eager, frenzied sap; she rijpens and hardens her growths; she concen- 

 trates; she begins to make ready for winter. The buds for next year 

 are formed during this month, and her nuts and seeds and bulbs finish 



