22 WILD, OR NATIVE FLO I VERS, 



becomes a pleasant and valuable article of food, and is sold under the 

 name of Portland Sago, or Portland Arrow-root. 



A\'hen deprived of the poisonous acrid juices that pervade them, 

 all our known species may be rendered valuable both as food and 

 medicine; but they should not be employed without care and experience. 



There seems in the vegetable world, as well as in the moral, two 

 opposite principles, the good and the evil. The gracious God has given 

 to man the power, by the cultivation ot his intellect, to elict the good 

 and useful, separating it from the vile and injurious, thus turning that 

 into a blessing which would otherwise be a curse. 



'" The Arum family possesses many valuable medicinal qualities," 

 says Dr. Charles Lee, " but would nevertheless become dangerous 

 poisons m the hands of ignorant persons." 



The useful Cassava, y«/;v//;a manihot (lAn.), of the West Indies 

 and tropical America, is another remarkable instance of Art overcoming 

 Nature, and obtaining a positive good from that which in its natural 

 state is evil. The Cassava, from the flour of which the bread made by 

 the natives is manufactured, being the starchy parts of a poisonous 

 plant of the Euphorbia family, the milky juice of which is highly acrid 

 and poisonous. The pleasant and useful article sold in the shops under 

 the name of Tapioca is also made from the Cassava root. 



How well do I recall to mind the old English Arum, known by its 

 familiar names among the Suffolk peasantry as "Cuckoo-pint," "Jack in 

 the Pulpit " and " Lords and Ladies." The first name no doubt was 

 suggested from the appearance of the plant about the time of the coming 

 of that herald of spring the Cuckoo ; the hooded spathe shrouding 

 the spadix like a monkish cowl the second ; while the distinction in the 

 colour between the deep purplish-red and creamy white of the central 

 column or spadix, supplied the more euphonious term of " Lords and 

 Ladies," which to our childish fancies represented the masculine and 

 feminine element in the plant ; of course we dreamed not of the 

 Linnsean system ; the one was the Lord because it was dark, the other 

 the Lady because it was fair and more delicate. This was plain reason- 

 ing of the cause ; children never reason, they only see effects. I am 

 afraid that in many things I am yet a child. 



Squirrki, Corn — Dicenira Canadensis (D. C.) 



This elegant species belongs to the Fumitory family, and is 

 remarkable for its sweetness, as well as for the grace of its almost 

 pellucid white, or pale pink, bells, and the finely dissected com[)ound 

 foliage of a peculiar bluish-tint of green. The Corolla is heart-shaped 



