318 Botanical Communications. 



appears in this respect, to deserve all the encomiums it has received. 

 In the language of the poet it may be said : 



And there is many a summer flower, 

 Which tasks not one laboiious hour, 

 Nor claims the culture of his hand, 

 To bloom along the fairy land. 



During the spring, the woods are thickly studded with various spe- 

 cies of Viola, Phlox, Pinguicula, Lupirius. Sarracenia ; the Verbe- 

 na aubletia, Chaptalia integrifolia, he. During the summer, the Yuc- 

 cas, Pancratiums, &c. appear and in fall the Rudbeckia, Silphium, 

 Helianthus, Gerardia, Gentiana, Aster, Chrysopsis, &c. 



There are perhaps few scenes in nature more beautiful than some 

 of the Hummocks of Florida. Frequently, after passing through a 

 sandy and sterile tract, covered only with pine, scrub oak and pover- 

 ty grass, (Pinus palustris, Quercus Catesbaei and Aristida) you ar- 

 rive, suddenly, on the borders of one of these Floridian oases. Here 

 the scene changes as if by magic. The soil becomes one of great 

 fertility, and a dense forest succeeds, comprising many elegant ever- 

 greens, and other trees and shrubs of great beauty. Among these 

 stands pre-eminent the stately Magnolia grandiflora, accompanied by 

 its relative the fragrant Magnolia auriculata. To these we may add 

 the Olea americana, lllicium floridanum, Laurus carolinensis, Hex 

 opaca, Hopea tinctoria, Pinus heterophylla, Gordonia lasianthus, 

 Magnolia glauca and the elegant Mylocarium. Here too are found 

 the showy Redbud (Cercis canadensis) the lofty Tulip-tree (Liri- 

 odendron tulipifera) the shady beech (Fagus sylvatica) and the beau- 

 tiful snow drop (Halesia diptera and H. tetraptera.) 



Such a spot generally occupies the declivity of a hill, at the foot 

 of which runs a stream meandering with sudden and innumerable 

 turns, overhung at intervals, by the beautiful Azalea nudiflora, the 

 Hydrangea quercifolia, the Stuartia virgiuica, and the almost unrival- 

 led Kalmia latifolia : 



Frt-.sco e cbiaro rivo, che descende 

 * * * tra fioiite sponde, 

 E dolce ad ascoltar mormon rende. 



This is the very paradise of botanists; a fit place for the romantic 

 and contemplative "to muse o'er flood and fell," and to realize 

 those words of the poet : 



How often we forget all time — when lone, 

 Admiring Nature's universal throne; 

 Her woods, her wilds, her waters — the intense 

 Reply of her's to oui intelligence ' 



