WILD, OR NATIVE FLOWERS. 65 



The strengthening and purifying nature of this plant makes it quite 

 safe as a medicine even for a young infant. The preparation is by no 

 means unpalatable ; it is sweet and slightly bitter, aromatic and 

 astringent. 



I have seen children that had been reduced to the last stage of 

 debility, restored, after taking three or four doses, to a healthy state of 

 body ; it purifies the blood and strengthens the system. 



This plant, and Aralia nudicaulis^ (L.) or Wild Sarsaparilla, are 

 held in great repute as wholesome tonics by the old settlers. 



The Ginseng, A. qainquefolia, (Gray) or Five-leaved Sarsaparilla, is 

 known by its scarlet berries. 



Dwarf Ginseng — Ai-alia trifolur, (Gray.) 



Is a pretty, delicate little plant, with three, palmately three to five 

 foliate, light-green leaves, which form a leafy involucre to the small 

 delicate umbel of whitish-green flowers which surmounts them. The 

 root is a round tuber, deep below the soil ; it is pungent to the taste. 



Monkey Flower. — Mimuhis ritigens, (L.) 



Our Mimulus is a sober-suited nun, not gorgeously arrayed in 

 crimson and golden sheen, scarlet or orange, but in a modest, unobtrusive 

 dark violet colour, that she may not prove too conspicuous among the 

 herbage and grasses. Her favourite haunt is in damp soil, by low-lying 

 streams and open, swampy meadows, among moisture-loving herbs, 

 coarse grasses and sedges, and dwarf sheltering bushes. Yet our 

 Mimulus is by no means devoid of beauty ; the dark violet-purple of 

 the corollas being rather unusual among wild-flowers. The blossoms 

 grow from between the axils of the leaves, singly, on rather long foot- 

 stalks ; the upper lip of the tubular corolla is arched, the lower spreading 

 and thrice lobed ; the leaves are long, of a dullish green, often, with the 

 angled upright scape, taking a bronzed purple tint. 



Mad-dog Skullcap — Scutellaria lateriflora, (L.) 



This pretty, light-blue flower grows on the low-lying shores of the 

 Katchawanook Lake, and other localities on the banks of the Otonabee 

 and its tributaries. 



The stem is slender, branching, the leaves rather coarse ; colour of 

 the blossoms azure blue ; with the small upper lip somewhat curved. 



The old settlers imputed great virtues to this very humble herb 

 which it is more than doubtful if it possessed. Good faith, however, 

 will often work marvellous cures. The idea was that the plant would 

 avert the terrible effects of the bite of a mad-dog. 



