FLOWERS AND FOLKS. pai by f 
be of identical tastes and habits, though 
these were of the very best; and it would 
be a tiresome country that brought forth only 
a single kind of plants. 
The flower of Linneus is a flower by it- 
self, as here and there appears a man who 
seems, as we say, sui generis. This familiar 
phrase, by the bye, is literally applicable to 
Linnea borealis, a plant that spreads over 
a large part of the northern hemisphere, 
but everywhere preserves its own specific 
character; so that, whether it be found in 
Greenland or in Maryland, on the Alas- 
kan Islands or in Utah, in Siberia or on the 
mountains of Scotland, it is always and 
everywhere the same, —a genus of one 
species. Diversities of soil and climate 
make no impression upon its originality. 
If it live at all, it must live according to 
its own plan. 
The aster, on the contrary, has a special 
‘talent for variation. Like some individuals 
of another sort, it is born to adapt itself 
to circumstances. Dr. Gray enumerates no 
less than one hundred and ninety-six North 
American species and varieties, many of 
which shade into each other with such end- 
