WILD, OR NATIVE FLOWERS. 



lOI 



istics of the family, and probably our native plants might prove as 

 valuable as tonics as the foreign root, were they tested. The Five- 

 flowered Gentian is very unlike the bright and more showy blossomed 

 species described above. The flowers in fives, are narrow bells of a 

 delicate pale lilac-tint^ clustered in the axils of the narrow, light-green 

 leaves ; it is found sometimes on dry, grassy banks, and in the angles of 

 fences by roadsides. 



I have a specimen closely resembling the above species, sent from 

 Iowa, the chief difference being that the tips of the slender flower-tubes 

 are of a deep dark blue — our Canadian flower being only slightly tinted 

 with very pale lilac. I have never found any of the Gentians growing 

 in the forest, though several species seem to flourish in partial shade in 

 open thickets. 



With the Gentians I have brought to a close the floral season of the 

 Canadian year. A few stragglers may yet be found amongst late Asters 

 and Golden-rods, in sheltered glens and lonely hollows, but the glory of 

 the year has departed : gone with the last deep blue bell of the loveliest 

 of her race, the Calathian Violet, the solitary flower of the Indian 

 Summer. All that now remains for us is the bright frosted foliage of the 

 Dwarf Oaks and the scarlet tinged leaves of the low Huckleberry bushes ; 

 the brilliant berries of the leafless Winterberry, Ilex verticillata (Gray), 

 and the clustered garlands of the climbing Bitter-sweet, Celastrus scanden^^ 

 which hang among the branches of the silver-barked Birch and other 

 forest trees, or near the margin of lake, or stream ; and the crimson fruit 

 of the frost-touched High-bush Cranberry Viburnuni Opulus — while on 

 dry, stony hills and rugged rocks the Bearberry covers with its creeping 

 branches of dark green, shining, leaves and gay scarlet fruit, the scanty 

 soil from which it springs. Let us prize them, for from henceforth till 

 the tardy Spring revisits the earth, its treasures of leaf and blossom will 

 be to us as a sealed book bound up in ice and snow. No more are we 

 tempted by verdant wreaths of glossy leaves or gaily tinted-flowers. We 

 must be contented with wintry landscapes, snow-flakes and frost-flowers, 

 and the crystal casing that covers the slender branches of the Birches 

 and Beeches, or hangs in diamond drops on the tassels of the Spruces 

 and Balsam Firs. 



Tread softly, traveller, lest the transient glory of our Frost-flowerS 

 dissolve at your feet. Emblems of earthly beauty, earthly riches and 

 earthly fame. But there are brighter gems and fairer flowers of 

 heavenly growth that fade not away, but which will flourish in the 

 Paradise of God more glorious than the fairest beauties of our earthly 

 home. 



