

WOODKUFF. 



Asperula odorata. Nat. Ord., 

 Jtubiacece. 



W floral displays are more 

 attractive in the early sum- 

 mer than a large mass of 

 the woodruff in flower. Its 

 rings of leaves cover the 

 ground with a dense mass 

 of living glowing green, and 

 from this rise in plentiful 

 abundance the flower-stalks 

 bearing above this ground- 

 work of tender verdure the 

 thousands of pure white 

 blossoms. It is one of the 

 misfortunes of illustrations 

 that those flowers which are 

 the most pure and delicate 

 in tint lose most by their representation 

 in colour, and those who would see the 

 ox-eye daisy to perfection, realise the delicacy of the 

 lilac of the meadow saffron, or the intense white of 

 the woodruff, must turn to the great book of Nature, 

 and see them amidst their natural surroundings. The 

 beauty of many of our flowers, too, in nature is increased 

 by their aggregation ; we gaze not on one, but on 

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