A YEAR IN THE FIELDS 



foot high, with two or more large yellow 

 hood or helmet shaped flowers. It is not 

 common, and belongs pretty well north, 

 growing in sandy swamps and along the 

 marshy margins of lakes and ponds. Its 

 perfume is sweet and spicy in an eminent 

 degree. I have placed in the above list 

 several flowers that are intermittently fra- 

 grant, like the hepatica, or liver-leaf. This 

 flower is .the earliest, as it is certainly one 

 of the most beautiful, to be found in our 

 woods, and occasionally it is fragrant. Group 

 after group may be inspected ranging 

 through all shades of purple and blue, with 

 some perfectly white and no odor be de- 

 tected, when presently you will happen 

 upon a little brood of them that have a 

 most delicate and delicious fragrance. The 

 same is true of a species of loosestrife grow- 

 ing along streams and on other wet places, 

 with tall bushy stalks, dark green leaves, 

 and pale axillary yellow flowers (probably 

 European). A handful of these flowers 

 will sometimes exhale a sweet fragrance ; 

 at other times, or from another locality, 

 they are scentless. Our evening primrose 

 is thought to be uniformly sweet-scented, 

 but the past season I examined many speci- 

 130 



