UVULARIA SESSILIFOLIA. 



sessile-leavi-:d bell-wort. 



NATURAL ORDER, LILIACE.E. 



UvuLARl.v SESSILIFOLIA, Linn3cus. — Leaves ova!-lanccolatc, sessile ; perianth smooth within; 

 capsule acute at each end ; stem nine to twelve inches high, slender, bifid at the summit, 

 mostly with a single flower on one of the branches ; leaves one to two inches lon;^, acute 

 at each end, the two lower leaves on the flower-bearing branch mostly opposite, with the 

 peduncle opposite the lower one, and immediately beneath the other. Perianth three 

 quarters of an inch in length. {Darlington's /"/<;/-« Ccstrica. Scq also Gray's J/auuiil of 

 the Botany of the Northern UniU'd States, and Wood's Class-Book of Botany.) 



UR pretty Bell-Wort is sure to greet the wanderer, who, 

 when 



" May, with life and music, 



The blooming valley fills, 

 And rears her flowery arches 

 For all the little rills," 



has strolled out into the shady recesses of the forest for the 

 purpose of gathering the early spring flowers. It is by no 

 means a showy plant, but it has so many things to say to us, 

 and all these things are so very interesting, that there are prob- 

 ably only few persons who would not care to join us in our 

 imaginary talk with it. 



But before we proceed we must stop to pay a compliment to 

 our artist, the accuracy of whose drawing is attested by Dr. 

 Darlington's description. In fact, one might almost think that 

 the artist had the description before him while making the 

 drawing, although it is in reality much more likely that he 

 never saw it until he had a chance of reading it at the head 

 of this chapter. There is the alternate character of the stem- 



