PINK 



abundant, so deep-hued, so delicate ! One feels tempted to lie 

 down among the pale grasses and rosy stars in the sunshine of 

 the August morning and drink his fill of their beauty. How 

 often nature tries to the utmost our capacity of appreciation and 

 leaves us still insatiate ! At such times it is almost a relief to 

 turn from the mere contemplation of beauty to the study of its 

 structure ; it rests our overstrained faculties. 



The vivid coloring and conspicuous marking of these flowers 

 indicate that they aim to attract certain members of the insect 

 world. As in the fireweed the pistil of the freshly opened blos- 

 som is curved sideways, with its lobes so closed and twisted as 

 to be inaccessible on their stigmatic surfaces to the pollen which 

 the already mature stamens are discharging. When the effete 

 anthers give evidence that they are hors de combat by their with- 

 ered appearance, the style erects itself and spreads its stigmas. 



S, angularis is a species which may be found in rich soil in- 

 land. Its somewhat heart-shaped, clasping, five-nerved leaves 

 and angled stem serve to identify it. 



S. chloroides is a larger and peculiarly beautiful species which 

 borders brackish ponds along the coast. Its corolla is about two 

 inches broad and eight to twelve-parted. (PI. CIX.) 



Many of our readers will be interested in the following 

 information, copied from ^'Garden and Forest," as to the 

 tradition in Plymouth concerning the scientific name of this 

 genus : 



'' No more beautiful flower grows in New England than the 

 Sadbatia, and at Plymouth, where it is especially profuse and lux- 

 uriant on the borders of the ponds so characteristic of that part of 

 eastern Massachusetts, it is held in peculiar affection and, one may 

 almost say, reverence. It is locally called ' the rose of Plymouth,' 

 and during its brief season of bloom is sold in quantities in the 

 streets of the town and used in the adornment of houses and 

 churches. Its name comes from that of an early botanist, Libera- 

 tus Sabbatia ; but this well-established truth is totally disregarded 

 by local tradition. Almost every one in Plymouth firmly believes 

 that the title is due to the fact that the Pilgrims of 1620 first saw 



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