Flowers of Mystery 437 



tipped, and set in a cup-shaped calyx an inch 

 long, which was bigger than the flower itself. The 

 plant stood two or three feet high, and the sweet- 

 scented flowers were in whorls of five or six on a 

 stem. It is a good example of my assertion that 

 the old flowers had queerer shapes than modern ones, 

 and were made of queer materials ; the calyx of this 

 Shell flower is of such singular quality and fibre. 



The Dog-tooth Violet always had to me a sickly 

 look, but its leaves give it its special offensiveness ; 

 all spotted leaves, or flower petals which showed the 

 slightest resemblance to the markings of a snake or 

 lizard, always filled me with dislike. Among them 

 I included Lungwort (Pulmonaria), a flower which 

 seems suddenly to have disappeared from many 

 gardens, even old-fashioned ones, just as it has dis- 

 appeared from medicine. Not a gardener could be 

 found in our public parks in New York who had 

 ever seen it, or knew it, though there is in Prospect 

 Park a well-filled and noteworthy " Old-fashioned 

 Garden." Let me add, in passing, that nothing in 

 the entire park system — greenhouses, water gardens, 

 Italian gardens — affords such delight to the public 

 as this old-fashioned garden. 



The changing blue and pink flowers of the Lung- 

 wort, somewhat characteristic of its family, are curious 

 also. This plant was also known by the singular 

 name of Joseph-and-Mary ; the pink flowers being 

 the emblem of Joseph ; the blue of the Blessed Vir- 

 gin Mary. Lady's-tears was an allied name, from a 

 legend that the Virgin Mary's tears fell on the 

 leaves, causing the white spots to grow in them, 



