182 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



beauty and unselfishly leaving them 

 where they grew would at least ■ con- 

 sider nature sufficiently to cut rather 

 than pull the blooms, much less dam- 

 age would be done in nature's wild 

 gardens. To pull the blooms of the 

 starry campion is usually to tear the 

 lithe thing from the soil and close its 

 sweet period of ministry forever. 



To one not familiar with all the 

 bright things of wood and meadow, 

 the first sight of the great willow- 

 herb's (Epilobium augustifolium) long 

 racemes of pink flowers, reaching per- 

 haps five or six feet in the air, is a rev- 

 elation indeed. 



When we find this showy Epilobium 

 the first inspiration must always be to 

 glance around for burnt woodwork, or 

 downward to the soil for crumbling 

 plaster as, true to its name of fire-weed, 

 it usually locates amid the debris of 

 some ruined house ; in itself it is some- 

 thing of a shaft of flame. 



Of more tender coloring, blooming in 

 August or September, is the false- 

 dragon-head (Physostegia Virginiana), 

 a very erect pretty member of the mint 

 family, with the proverbial square 

 stems, leaves opposite and toothed, to 

 be met with either in meadow or road- 

 side. The flowers of delicate violet 

 pink, veined with deeper coloring, 

 clustered in tall spikes, reaching four 

 or five feet above the ground, are 

 among the most attractive of our late 

 blooms, entirely too stately and lovely 

 to be passed unnoticed by any lover of 

 nature's beauty. 



In purple there is the little down- 

 trodden heal-all (Brunella Vulgaris), 

 also a mint, which, though largely un- 

 noticed and usually mowed down, if 

 given the chance will beautify an un- 

 trodden corner or spread its purple 

 over a roadside. To one who notices 

 how nature contrives to overcome or 

 conform to the demands of circum- 

 stance, this little mint reveals a spirit 

 of conquest over adversity. A luxuri- 

 ant grower when all goes well, its 

 close spikes may stand up a foot above 

 the ground, but when its home is where 

 a close-cutting mower passes over, one 

 may see the mosaic of heal-all and 



grass, the purple held in safety close to 

 the earth, unscathed by the blade of 

 the mower 



This little wayside wanderer is pos- 

 sessed of healing qualities long known 

 and utilized in the old world and some- 

 what in the new. If one would see the 

 deep tones of purple, the "crushed 



. "•>*' / ■ 







m 



GREAT BLUE LOBELIA (RATTLESXAKEROOT 

 AT RIGHT SIDE) 

 The great pure lobelia is one of the loveliest 

 flowers but is growing very scare through the reck- 

 lessness of flower hunters. 



strawberry" hues blending with tall 

 grasses, let him look over the marsh- 

 land, the undisturbed wood-lot or mea- 

 dow where the iron-weeds and the Joe 

 Pye-weeds cluster in companies and 

 stand towering well above the groups 

 of Golden-rods. 



Beauty lies under foot and on every 

 side : where nature reigns its common 

 yarrows, daisies, black-eyed Susans, 

 lend charm to the hedge-rows and 

 fields, though these humble growths 

 be only classed with most obtrusive 

 weeds. 



