28 IPOMCEA LEPTOPHYLLA. COLORADO MAN-ROOT. 



His glance was caught by the desert's flower, 



The precious boon of heaven, 

 And sudden hope, Uke a vernal shower. 



To his fainting heart was given. 



For the bright flower spoke of One above, 



Of the Presence felt to brood, 

 With a spirit of pervading love, 



O'er the wildest solitude. 



Oh ! the seed was thrown these wastes among 



In a bless'd and gracious hour. 

 For the lorn one rose, in heart made strong 



By the lonely, loneliest flower." 



Ipomcea is from the Greek, and signifies " like to a bindweed." 

 The Bindweeds proper are the Convolvuli, so called from the 

 twining habits of many of the species. The Man-Root is related 

 to the Convolvulus, and this relationship Linnaeus, who first 

 crave the name to the genus, desired to express. The difference 

 between the two genera is shown in several characteristics, one 

 of the most prominent being the capitate stigma (Fig. 3) in 

 Ipomcea, while Convolvulus has a stigma with two linear lobes. 

 But the two genera are so nearly alike that many species of 

 Co7ivolvulus have been called Ipomosa, and many a true Ipomoea 

 has been regarded as a Convolviilus. 



As the Man-Root has only been known a short time, and as 

 until recently the opportunities for getting seed were limited, it 

 is only within the last year or two that we have been able to 

 test its capacity for garden culture. It seems likely to do very 

 well, however, and is doing nicely in the writer s garden. Our 

 drawing, by the kind permission of Prof. C. S. Sargent, was 

 made from a plant growing in the Cambridge Botanic Garden. 

 The flowers are larger and the general vigor is greater in this 

 specimen than in any of the plants which we saw in their wild 

 location. 



Exi'LANATioN OF THE Plate.'— I. Flowciiiig brancli, showing nowcis and leaves.— 

 2. Flower-stalk and calyx after flowering. — 3. Pistil, showing capitate stigma (from 

 Emory's Report). 



