208 CHAPTER XXVIII. 



carry them away in quantities, for they have, unfor- 

 tunately, a marketable value. 



If the town of Nice were in want of a symbol, 

 surely the Peony should be selected, for this plant is 

 dedicated to Apollo Paion, hence its name. " Phoebus 

 the Healer " is, or ought to be, the patron deity of 

 Nice. 



One other plant allied to the Buttercup deserves 

 an honourable mention : the Athragene, a climber of 

 the Clematis sub-order, with large drooping lavender- 

 coloured blossoms. We do not often see the flowers, 

 for they come out early in the Spring, before we have 

 migrated to the mountain region where they live. 

 Once or twice I have been in time to find a few 

 remaining. 



Not far from the Buttercup family comes the 

 Magnolia, a Transatlantic Beauty. The flower is not 

 amiss, only there is too much of it. Like all else Ameri- 

 can it relies on bigness ; but beauty and bigness do not 

 coincide. We may admire a giantess in a platonic 

 sort of way ; Minerva may be as tall as you please ; 

 but Venus does not stand higher that a man's shoulder. 

 With this compliment we will permit the Magnolia to 

 return to the banks of the Susquehanna. The most 

 interesting thing about the tree is the suspended 

 scarlet seed. 



The Crucifers are not among the showiest flowers, 

 yet the rich colour of the Moricandia arvensis (Fig. 78) 

 would be hard to match. This rare plant adorns the sea 

 rocks west of Monaco, and the cliffs at Ventimiglia. 

 It is one of the most highly organized members of the 

 Cress family, adapted to fertilization by long-tongued 

 insects. The petals are brought closely together, so 



