MAY. 



AMERICAN COWSLIP. 



"Where the bee sucks, there suck I ; 

 In a Cowslip's bell I lie." 



The above species is also called Dodecatheon 

 Media,* (from its twelve stamina, and the celebrated 

 Dr. Mead,) its leaves are flat and rounded : from the 

 centre it sends out one or more slender stalks, about 

 nine inches high, bearing a head of delicate lilac 

 flowers, (turned back,) with a pendulous beak of an 

 orange color. Of this flower there are two or three 

 varieties. Though a native of Virginia, it cannot 

 bear a scorching sun, for there it occupies the woods. 

 It should only be exposed to the morning sun ; and 

 as to its soil, a mixture of turf-mould, rotten leaves, 

 and sand, will prove the most suitable. 



AQUILEGIA CANADENSIS, 



OR WILD COLUMBINE. 



This beautiful little perennial, with its yellow 

 flowers tinged with scarlet, is found wild in almost 

 all parts of the United States, flowering during the 

 months of April and May. It is generally found in 

 a dry soil, and most usually about the sunny side 

 of rocks ; it is cultivated with ease, requiring very 

 little attention : common garden earth, without ad- 

 ditional manure, is sufficiently rich for it. The 

 plant is readily recognised by comparing it with the 

 drawing given at the head of the spring months. G. 



* The plant more generally known in the United States as 

 American Cowslip, is the Caltha palustris, a showy yellow flower, 

 seen in moist grounds during April and May throughout the northern 

 States, and called Marsh Marigold, or American Cowslip. G. 



