RED 



on account of its black hairs and after a comedy of the same title 

 which was popular during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Both 

 its common and generic names refer to an ancient superstition 

 to the effect that birds of prey used the juices of this genus to 

 strengthen their eyesight. 



CARDINAL-FLOWER. 



Lobelia cardinalis. Lobelia Family. 



Stem. From two to four feet high. Leaves. Alternate; narrowly ob- 

 long ; slightly toothed. Flowers. Bright red ; growing in a raceme. 

 Calyx. Five-cleft. Corolla. Somewhat two-lipped ; the upper lip of two 

 rather erect lobes, the lower spreading and three-cleft. Stamens. Five, 

 united into a tube. Pistil. One, with a fringed stigma. 



We have no flower which can vie with this in vivid coloring. 

 In late summer its brilliant red gleams from the marshes or is re- 

 flected from the shadowy water's edge with unequalled intensity 



" As if some wounded eagle's breast 



Slow throbbing o'er the plain, 

 Had left its airy path impressed 

 In drops of scarlet rain." * 



The early French Canadians were so struck with its beauty that 

 they sent the plant to France as a specimen of what the wilds of 

 the New World could yield. Perhaps at that time it received 

 its English name which likens it to the gorgeously attired dig- 

 nitaries of the Roman Church. 



TRUMPET HONEYSUCKLE. 



[PI. CXXIV 



Lonicera sempervirens. Honeysuckle Family. 



A twining snrub. Leaves. Entire; opposite; oblong; the upper pairs 

 united around the stem. Flowers. Deep red without, yellowish within; 

 in close clusters from the axils of the upper leaves. Calyx. With very 

 short teeth. Corolla. Trumpet- shaped ; five-lobed. Stamens. Five. 

 Pistil One. Fruit. A red or orange berry. 



Many of us are so familiar with these flowers in our gardens 

 that we have, perhaps, considered them ' ' escapes ' ' when we 



* Holmes. 

 268 



