WILD, OR XATIVE FLOWERS. 95 



Nor is the Indian Strawberry the only member of the Spinach tribe 

 that is found growing in Canada. We possess several others, among 

 these are the herbs commonly known by the country people as Good 

 King Henry (B. Bonus Ilem'iciis), which has been introduced 

 from Europe, ^and Lamb's-Quarters (Chenopodiiini album)., which 

 plants are still made use of as Spring vegetables, though not 

 now in such repute as formerly. Happily few houses, or even 

 shanties, but can boast of a garden around the dwelling. But many 

 years ago it was a rare thing to see even a Cabbage-plot fenced in about 

 the homestead, and the cultivation of flowers was regarded as a piece of 

 useless extravagance, a mark of pride and idle vanity. We do not wish 

 those good old times back again ! 



The leaves of the Indian Strawberry are thin, long- pointed, somewhat 

 halbert-shaped, with shallow indentations at the edges. They are of a 

 bright lively green colour. In the earlier stages of growth, die flowering 

 spikes stand upright, but as the fruit ripens they decline, and are bending 

 or entirely prostrate, much resembling the drooping Amaranth (called 

 Love lies Bleeding) of our gardens, but more brilliant in hue. The berries 

 of the Indian Strawberry are wrinkled on the surface and dotted over with 

 purplish-black seeds, which life embedded in the soft fruity pulp of the 

 altered clayx in a manner similar to the Strawberry. The fruit begins 

 to ripen in July, and continues by a succession of lateral branches to 

 bear its red clusters all through August, and till the frosts of September 

 cut it off and destroy the beauty of the plant. 



Turtle-head — Snake-head — Chelonc glabra., (L.) 



This coarse, but rather showy plant, is found in damp thickets near 

 lakes and streams. The large, white, two-lipped flowers grow in terminal 

 clusters or spikes ; the upper lip projects downward like a Turtle's 

 bill ; the foliage is dark green, the leaves opposite, the edges coarsely- 

 toothed, long and sharp-pointed ; the stem, simple," or widely branching 

 and bushy ; the large handsome white flowers are often tingdU with red 

 or purplish-red ; the blossom is open-throated, somewhat contracted at 

 the mouth by the overhanging of the upper lip. The whole plant is 

 from two to three feet high. The name of the Genus is derived from a 

 Greek word, which signifies a Tortoise, the form of the beaked corolla, 

 resembling the head of a reptile, hence also the common name Snake- 

 head, from the fancied likeness to the open mouth of a snake. The 

 flowering season is from July to September ; probably, under cultivation, 

 this flower would become highly ornamental as a large border-plant. 



There are many very ornamental flowers belonging to the same 

 Natural Order as the Turtle-head, among which are the Beard-tongue 



