NOTE and COMMENT 



Painted Snow Flower. — It is remarkable that a plant 

 of such singular beauty as the painted snow flower (Spragura 

 Umbellata) has so long escaped cultivation, especially when it 

 is so easily grown, from seeds and when the roots are easily 

 transplanted. When the winter snows of the upper Sierras 

 commence melting, the bright green leaves of the spraguea 

 appear, and in June it is at the height of its flowering season. 

 Along the rocky wind swept plateaus and mountain meadows 

 the ground is carpeted for miles with this lovely flower. The 

 plant is low and prostrate in habit and sends up from two to 

 five flower stems varying in height from five to eight inches. 

 The top is surmounted with a snow white cottony ball of 

 flowers, which are spotted with the brightest shades of deli- 

 cate pink, rendering the flower one of great beauty. Its bloom- 

 ng period is from three to five weeks. — 5". L. Wafkins. ■ 



Four-Leaved Milkweed. — Gray says the range of the 

 four-leaved milkweed (Asclcpias quadrifoiia) extends from 

 North Carolina north and Chapman says it is native to the 

 mountains of Georgia and North Carolina. I am sure its 

 range is more extensive. I have seen it in Louisiana, Alabama 

 and Mississippi. A prolific seed-bearer and cultivated in the 

 gardens of Xew Orleans and other cities, the plant very prob- 

 ably has spread far and wide from self-sown seeds. It loves 

 the shade and in its native haunts is found in woods and 

 thickets. Under cultivation the plant grows about eighteen 

 inches high, bearing umbels of delicate pink blossoms from 



