384 SPUING FLOWERS, AND 



open the azure blossoms of the Hepatioa, a pretty and 

 favorite flower, always a welcome guest, and the next 

 herald sent by approaching Spring to announce her ad- 

 vent. On a bright sunny day, what can be more lovely 

 than a tuft of these beautiful harbingers of spring, gazing 

 with open eyes to the heavens ! 



"Blue, blue as if the sky let fall 

 A flower from its cerulean wall." 



The wild varieties are found of every shade, from a 

 deep blue to pure white ; the former are the most com- 

 mon ; we also find shades of pink and purple. There 

 are two varieties, distinguished by the shape of the 

 leaves, and named respectively, H. triloba and H. acuti- 

 loba, of which the latter is the rarer ; the two varieties 

 sometimes run into each other. The common names are 

 Liver-leaf, so called from the fancied resemblance of the 

 leaves to the liver, and far prettier, Squirrel-cups. It is 

 a delicate plant, the flowers always appearing before the 

 new foliage, and pushing up in great numbers among 

 the old leaves. The leaves are heart-shaped at the base, 

 and divided into three or five entire lobes. This flower 

 has been much improved by cultivation ; we have spoken 

 at length, in a previous chapter, of the double red va- 





