92 WILD, OR NATH'E FLOWERS. 



her knowledge, is a slender purple-flowered Gerardia, G. purpurea 

 which grows on the margin of Rice Lake, among wild grasses and other 

 herbage. 



It has been said by one who was a diligent botanist and naturalist, 

 (the late Dr. G. G. Bird) that no Gerardias were found north of the 

 Great Lakes : but all were confined to the Western and Eastern States ; 

 this however was a mistake. At that date very little was known of 

 the Canadian Flora. 



It was the trying time of pioneer life in the backwoods, when little 

 heed was taken of the vegetable productions of the country, and even 

 the trees of the forest were hardly distinguished by name, much less 

 were the wild flowers cared for, unless some of the settlers knew 

 of curative medicines to be extracted from the leaves or roots, or of 

 some household dye for the home-spun flannel garments, which were 

 then all that could be obtained as clothing for their families. But to 

 return to my Gerardias, several fine species have been found growing 

 on the Islands of Lake Ontario, and on the banks of the Humber, that 

 fruitful wilderness of many flowers ; and doubtless these handsome showy 

 plants are well known in many localities westward in the Dominion of 

 Canada. 



The handsomest ot all is G. giieriifolia, Oak-leaved Gerardia, a 

 robust, stately plant of from three to six feet in height, with large open- 

 throated orange bells; it is known as False Fox-glove. There are several 

 fine purple-flowered species, and others of paler yellow than quercifo/ia, 

 with stems coarse, rigid, downy or bristly ; the leaves mostly rough on 

 the surface, and of a dull green. 



I am not aware of any particularly useful (jualities attributed to this 

 Genus, but as ornaments to our gardens they would prove very attrac- 

 tive — one of the most suitable is G. pedicularia^ a very much branched 

 species which grows in dry thickets ; it is about 2 feet high, has prettily 

 lobed foliage and a profusion of yellow flowers. It seems a pity that 

 these beautiful plants should be passed by only as weeds, unnoticed and 

 unvalued. 



Gay-feather — Button Snaki:-rooi' — Liatris cyliiidracea, (Michx.) 



This pretty purple flower is found growing on dry hills, near lakes 

 and rivers, on sandy flats and old dried water-courses. The slender, 

 .stiff, upright stem is clothed with rigid, narrow, grass-like, dark green 

 leaves, the longest being nearest to the root. The flowers form a long 

 spike of densely-flowered purple heads ; the scales, of the involucre 

 that surrounds them, are green tipped with black, and finely fringed ; 



