58 WILD, OR NATIVE FLOWERS. 



The Harebell has often formed the theme of our modern poets, as 

 illustrative of grace and lightness. In the Lady of the Lake we have 

 this pretty couplet when describing Ellen : 



" E'en the light Harebell raised its head 

 Elastic from her airy tread." 



Yellow-flowered Wood-Sorrel — Oxalis stricta (L.) 



This delicate little flower may be found occasionally by the wayside ; 

 but is oftener seen among the herbage near the borders of cultivated 

 fields. The trifoliate leaves are terminal on longish foot-stalks, thin in 

 texture, and of a pleasant acid taste. At sunset, like the clover and other 

 trefoils, it droops and folds its leaflets together to sleep, for some plants 

 rest as in sleep. This Wood-sorrel is somewhat branching and bushy ; 

 the pale yellow blossoms are on long stalks, fading very soon. There is 

 also another species — Oxalis Acetosella (L.) — white with purple veinings, 

 a lovely delicate thing of great beauty, which is found on damp mossy 

 banks at the edge of low pastures. It has been asserted by some persons 

 that the Wood-Sorrel is the Irish Shamrock, the emblem of the Holy 

 Trinity ; but it is more likely, if St. Patrick really used any plant as a 

 simile, that he took the familiar golden-blossomed trefoil Yellow-clover, 

 which is " The Shamrock," which grows so abundantly in Ireland by 

 waysides. The Wood-sorrel is of rarer occurrence and of less familiar 

 appearance. 



CiSTUs — Rock-Rose — HeUaiithciiuoii Canadense (Michx. ) 



We find the yellow Cistus growing on gravelly hills and sunny 

 banks. It is a pretty, delicate-flowered plant of slender upright growth, 

 and hoary foliage, beset with silvery gray hairs. The flowers, rarely 

 more than two opening at a time, are about an inch wide ; the petals 

 slightly notched at the upper edge, of a pale brimstone colour ; the 

 many stamens and anthers reddish-orange. The flowers open at sunrise 

 but fall before night ; they are so slight in texture that the least touch 

 bothers them. There is a peculiarity in this plant that is very singular, 

 the tendency to produce an abundance of abortive flowers along the 

 lower portion of the stem. These never open, and give a scaly look to 

 the plant. The Cistus is also known by the name of Frost-Plant ; 

 this name may have been given to it from the hoary appearance of the 

 leaves, though a less obvious cause has been assigned for the name. 

 It is said that ice crystals are formed on the bark in the autumnal frosts ; 

 but most likely some crystallized substance from the juices of the plant 

 has been mistaken for ice. 



