THE EARLY FLOWERS. 21 



mon buttercups, which are favorites of children when 

 they first appear, but shine like gilded toys, and sym- 

 bolize no charming sentiment to endear them to our 

 sight. 



One of the earliest flowers of April, appearing about 

 two weeks later than the ground -laurel, on the sunny 

 slope of a hill that is protected by woods, and continuing 

 to put forth its delicate blossoms during about five weeks 

 from its first appearance, is the hepatica, or liverwort. 

 They are the flowers that have generally rewarded my 

 earliest botanical rambles, and every year I behold them 

 with increased delight. They are often seen in crowded 

 clusters, half concealed by dry oak-leaves, that were ele- 

 vated by the flowers as they developed their petals. They 

 vary in color from purple or lilac to lighter shades of 

 the same tints. Appearing in heads that often contain 

 more than twenty flowers, they form a pleasing contrast 

 with the little wood anemones that spangle the mossy 

 knolls with their solitary drooping blossoms. The rue- 

 leaved anemone differs from both of these. More lively 

 in its appearance than either, it bears several upright 

 flowers upon one stalk, with such a look of animation 

 that they seem to smile upon us from their green, shady 

 nooks. 



Not the least charming of our INIayflowers is the 

 houstonia, which has no English name that has become 

 popular. As early as the middle of May its flowers are 

 often so thickly strewn over the fields as at a distance 

 to resemble a thin veil of snow. This plant is almost 

 as delicate as the finer mosses, and its flowers, though 

 minute, are rendered conspicuous by the brilliant golden 

 hue of their centre, that melts into the cerulean white- 

 ness of the corolla. About the first of May a few flow- 

 ers of this species peep out from the ground, as in 

 early evening a few stars are seen twinkling through 



