SPURGE LA UJiEL. 



M 



your tongue were pricked with needles, so acrid and sharp 

 is their juice. It is alleged by some naturalists, that the 

 spadix in certain of the species becomes so hot that the 

 hand cannot touch it with impunity. For one or the other 

 of these reasons it has been made the emblem of \^•armth. 



SPURGE LAUREL {Daphne Laureola).—Coq}JKi:KY. 

 Desire to Please. 



This is valuable in shrubberies, thriving under the drip 

 of trees, and never attaining an unshapely size. Its bark is 

 such as to give it the appearance of a dead tree, but Nature, 

 to hide this deformity, envelopes its branches in purplish 

 flowers, and puts forth at the end a tuft of leaves resembling 

 a pine-apple in form. 



The Spurge Laurel begins to flower amid the snows of 

 January ; it seems the fitting representative of an imprudent 

 coquette who, in tlie dead of winter, decks herself in Spring 

 attire. 



SQUIRTING CUCUMBER {Momordica E later iiim).— 



Criticism. 



Adverse criticism produces a painful effect upon the 

 unfortunate object of it, therefore the specific name of this 

 j)lant has suggested it as the proper symbol of the biting 

 ojjcration. 



190 





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