gS IVILD, OR XATIVE FLOWERS. 



Pink Sap — Monctropa Ifypopitys, (L.) 



A tawny-coloured, scaled, leafless species, with several flowers, covered 

 with soft, pale yellowish-brown wool, fragrant, and full of honey, which 

 fell from the flower cups in heavy, luscious drops. This plant is of 

 rather rare occurrence, and only found here in Pine or Hemlock woods, 

 though Gray speaks of it as common in Oak and Pine woods. 



Gentians. 



" And the l^lue Gentian flower that in the breeze 

 Nods lonely ; of ber beauteous race the last."- — Bryant. 



This interesting floral family takes its name from Gentius, a King 

 of Illyria, who is said to have been the first to discover and be 

 benefitted by its sanative properties. The root used in medicine, is, I 

 believe, a native of Spain. The Alpine Gentian — so often spoken of by 

 tourists — is of low statiu-e, with very large, intensely-blue upright bells ; 

 "a thing of beauty and a joy for ever," even to have beheld it growing in 

 its serene loveliness on the edge of the icy glaciers and rude moraines 

 of the Swiss Alps. 



Of all our native flowers, the Gentians are among the most 

 beautiful, from the delicately fringed azure-blue (Bryant's flower) to the 

 fair, pale, softly-tinted. Five-flowered Gentian, with its narrow bells and 

 light-green leaves. All arc lovely in colour and form, but none more 

 deserving of our attention than the large-belled Soapwort Gentian, 

 known also by the poetical name of 



Calathian Violkt — Gentiana Saponaria, (L.), 



This is the latest of all our wild flowers, it comes early in the Fall 

 of the year, and lingers with us 



" Till faiier flowers are all decayed, 



And thou appearest; 

 Like joys that linger as they fade, 



Whose last are dearest." 



On sandy knolls, among fading grasses and withered herbage Of 

 our Oak-plains, we see the royal deep blue, open, bells of this lovely 

 flower, its rich colour reminding one of a Queen's coronation robes. 



This species somewhat resembles the I'Airoi)can G. F/wit/noiianf/ic, 

 (Linn.), which is also known by the same poetical iMiglish name. In 

 Sowerby's " English IJotany," under the head of the last named species, 

 we find : " This pretty little plant is worthy of cultivation, and is 

 quaintly mentioned by Gerarde, who says : ' the gallant flowrcs hereof 

 bee in their bravery about the end of August,' and he tells us that ' the 



