70 PHLOX SUBULATA. MOSS-PINK. 



addition to the substantive. But as Lychnis (" lychnos ") is the 

 Greek word for "lamp," Linnaeus changed the name of the 

 genus to " Phlox," which means " flame," and in this metaphori- 

 cal way still retained a connection with the original name of 

 Plukenet. The relationship of the PJiloxes is not with Caryo- 

 phyllace^, but with Greek Valerians, with which, and some 

 others, they form the natural order, Polemoniacea:, of which there 

 are numerous representatives in various genera on the American 

 continent. As the PJiloxes are strikingly different in appearance 

 from most of the plants which were cultivated in Europe at the 

 end of the seventeenth century, their introduction must have 

 been a rare treat to lovers of gardening. The tall forms of 

 Phlox^ especially P, Carolijia^ found their way into the gardens 

 about 1720; and Peter Collinson, that rare lover of American 

 wild flowers, boasted of several others a few years later. In a 

 letter to John Bartram in 1765, he refers with pride to them, 

 and remarks, " It is wonderful to see the fertility of your coun- 

 try in Phloxes^ He would have wondered more if he had seen 

 the beauty of the many which have been discovered since his 

 time. Even the one we now illustrate was, probably, unknown 

 to him, as it was not till 1 786 that it seems to have been intro- 

 duced into England by John Frazer. 



But beautiful as this species is in gardens, no one can have 

 any conception of its grandeur when seen in some of the wild 

 places where it finds itself perfectly at home. Dr. Darlington, 

 in his Flo7'-a Cestrlca, remarks, " This species is chiefly confined 

 to the Serpentine Rock (in Chester County, Pennsylvania), and 

 when it is in full bloom, the hills, at a distance, apppear as if 

 covered with a sheet of flame." The writer of this has noticed 

 the same lurid appearance of the hills from the flowering plants 

 along the line of the Schuylkill River, as, no doubt, have other 

 observers in other places. It is one of the earliest of all plants 

 to flower in this region. If the autumn be mild, as in Pennsyl- 

 vania it often is, flowers may be seen as late as in November, 

 while it is not unusual, after a few mild days in the spring, to 



