THE LINN^IA BOREALIS. 11 



West Bothnia, and in almost all the great northern 

 forests ; but it may be easily overlooked, because 

 it grows only where the woods are thickest, and its 

 delicate twin-blossoms are almost hid among the 

 moss, and interwoven with ivy. Their smell resem- 

 bles that of the meadow-sweet, and is so strong 

 during the night as to discover the plant at a con- 

 siderable distance. 



When he received his patent of nobility, Lin- 

 nseus adopted this floweret as a part of his crest 

 the helmet which surmounts the arms of his family 

 being adorned with a sprig of Linnsea. One of 

 those pupils who visited distant countries to add 

 to the collections of his great master, sent from 

 China a service of porcelain, manufactured pur- 

 posely for him, having a representation of this 

 plant as its only decoration ; and the Cardinal de 

 Noailles erected a cenotaph in his garden to the 

 memory of the naturalist, and planted the Linnsea 

 by its side as its most appropriate ornament. What 

 lover of flowers but will regard with interest this 

 little flower of the north, for the sake of him whose 

 name it bears ? * 



For classical allusion and romantic feeling, a 

 more striking example cannot be given than the 



* The two-flowered Linnsea was first discovered in this country 

 in a wood at Mearns, on the borders of Aberdeenshire, in 1795. 

 It has since been found in similar stations in the Highlands 01 

 other borders. 



