WILD, OK NATIVE FLOWERS. 49 



monadelphous). The sheath that conceals the stamens is entire, pointed 

 and varying in colour from white to reddish-purple. The flowers are 

 set on short pedicels or flower stalks, forming a close, long, terminal 

 raceme, the lower flowers opening first. The stem is leafy, erect, downy; 

 the leaves on longish foot stalks are composed of from seven to nine 

 soft, greyish, silky leaflets, set round the central axis of the stalk in a 

 horizontal circle. The whole plant is soft and velvety in appearance. 

 The pods are long and somewhat broad. The seeds are ivory white 

 when fully ripe, and are the food of Squirrels, Partridges, Field-mice and 

 other wild denizens of the wilderness. The Lupine can be readily 

 grown from seed, and blooms well in our garden plots, abiding with us 

 year after year. The ivory white seeds are often introduced into those 

 pretty fanciful wreaths, frequently exhibited at our township shows, and 

 known as the "Farmer's Wreath," being composed of different varieties 

 of grain and seeds, arranged so as to form flowers, leaves, fruits, &c. 



Before the plainlands above Rice Lake were enclosed and culti- 

 vated, the extensive grassy flats were brilliant with the azure hues of the 

 Lupine in the months of June and July ; but the progress of civilization 

 sweeps these fair ornaments from the soil. What the lover of the 

 country loses of the beautiful, is gained by the farmer in the increase 

 of the useful, and so it must he ; but nevertheless we mourn for the 

 beautiful things which gladdened our eyes. 



"Oh wail for the forest its glories are o'er." 

 Twin- FLOWER — Linncca borealis (Gronov.) 



" Nestled at its roots is beauty, 

 Such as blooms not, in the glare 

 Of the broad sun. That delicate forest flower 

 With scented breath, and look so like a smile, 

 Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mould, 

 An emanation from the indwelling life." — Bryant. 



'■ And there Linna:a weaves her rosy wreath." 



This delicate and graceful little evergreen is widely diffused through 

 most of the Northern countries of Europe and America. It is found 

 within the limits of the Arctic Circle : in dreary Kamschatka, and in 

 snowy Lapland, the young girls wreathe their hair with its flexible garlands. 

 In inhospitable Labrador it covers the rocks and mossy roots of Pines and 

 Birches in lonely shaded glens. It is found in the Scottish Highlands 

 and through all parts of the Northern and Eastern States of America. 

 In all the Provinces of our own Canada it may be found in secluded 

 spots. On the rocky Islands of the St. Lawrence, and of our inland 

 lakes it is particularly abundant, and its graceful trailing branches cover 



