226 FLOWERS AND FOLKS. 
It does a sympathetic observer good to 
see how humanly plants differ in their likes 
and dislikes. One is catholic: as common 
people say, it is not particular; it can live 
and thrive almost anywhere. Another must 
have precisely such and such conditions, and 
is to be found, therefore, only in very re- 
stricted localities. The Dionca, or Venus’s 
fly-trap, is a famous example of this fastidi- 
oushess, growing inasmall district of North 
Carolina, and, as far as appears, nowhere 
else, —a highly specialized plant, with no 
generic relative. Another instance is fur- 
nished by a water lily (Vymphcea elegans), 
the rediscovery of which is chronicled in a 
late issue of one of our botanical journals.! 
“This lily was originally found in. 1849, and 
has never been seen since, holding its place 
in botanical literature for these almost forty 
years on the strength of a single collection 
at a single vaguely described station on the 
broad prairies of southwestern Texas; ”’ now, 
after all this time, it turns up again in an- 
other quarter of the same State. And every 
student could report cases of a similar char- 
1 The bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club for Janu- 
ary, 1888, page 15. 
