128 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTILUTE. | Vou. WILE 
Among the very first to bloom in early spring is the trailing. Arbutus, 
Epigeéa repens, putting forth its delicately rose-colored flowers, laden with 
.a rich spicy fragranee, even before the snows have ceased to fall. Itisa 
shade loving plant that would thrive under the trees that skirt so many 
of the city lawns. In this connection we may name the pretty little 
Linnea borealis, a slender creeping evergreen that loves the cool shade. 
Its graceful nodding flowers, purple and white, and sweetly fragrant, 
appear in June. It was a special favorite of the great Swedish botanist, 
and therefore bears his name. Also the Winter-green, Gaultheria pro- 
cumbens, is most at home under the shade of evergreen trees. Its nearly 
white flowers appear in July, followed by bright red berries. J7Zztchella 
repens, as its name indicates, is a creeping plant, it thrives well in dry 
soils, is covered in June and July with white flowers that are pleasantly 
fragrant, followed by a profusion of bright scarlet berries which continue 
through the winter. This pretty plant is not only useful to hide the bare 
earth under trees, but its bright shining evergreen leaves set off with the 
scarlet berries, make it an appropriate Christmas decorative plant. We 
have yet another evergreen trailer bearing flesh-colored fragrant flowers 
in June, suitable for planting in dry soils, known by the name of 
Pipsissewa, Ch:maphila umbellata. These and other evergreen plants, 
trailing in habit, and thriving best under the shade of over-spreading 
trees, could be made to contribute greatly to the charm of our lawns, not 
only by carpeting the earth beneath them, but by filling the air during 
their flowering season with grateful odors. 
We have several very pretty Anemones. <A. hepatica vies with the 
Epigea in time of flowering. Its blue flowers running through many 
shades, sometimes white, are too well known to need description or words 
of praise. It is at home in partial shade. A. patens, var. Nuttallzana, has 
large purplish flowers in early spring. It prefers the open ground. A. 
parviflora gives us white flowers in May and June. d. multefida is more 
rare, its flowers are red, opening in June. A. Pensylvanica continues 
to display its white flowers from June to August. 
It is quite possible that we have four varieties of 7rz//zwm, though the 
writer has not seen the white nodding 7. cernuum, nor the painted 7. ery- 
throcarpum,(T. pictum Pursh.) The flowers of the latter are white, marked 
with purple stripes at the base of each petal. \Vith 7. grandifiorum, the 
large white flowers of which are so showy, remain so long in perfection, 
turning before they disappear to light rose-color; and with 7. erectum, 
the dark purple flowers often intermingled with the white blooms of 7. 
grandifiorum, you are all familiar. Our European cousins know how to 
appreciate their beauty, so much so that large numbers have been shipped 
to the other side of the Atlantic. 
