A BUNCH OF HERBS 189 



than a foot high, with two or more large yellow 

 hood or helmet shaped flowers. It is not common, 

 and belongs pretty well north, growing in sandy 

 swamps and along the marshy margins of lakes and 

 ponds. Its perfume is sweet and spicy in an emi- 

 nent degree. I have placed in the above list sev- 

 eral flowers that are intermittently fragrant, like 

 the hepatica, or liver-leaf. This flower is the ear- 

 liest, as it is certainly one of the most beautiful, 

 to be found in our woods, and occasionally it is 

 fragrant. Group after group may be inspected, 

 ranging through all shades of purple and blue, with 

 some perfectly white, and no odor be detected, 

 when presently you will happen upon a little brood 

 of them that have a most delicate and delicious fra- 

 grance. The same is true of a species of loosestrife 

 growing along streams and on other wet places, 

 with tall bushy stalks, dark green leaves, and pale 

 axillary yellow flowers (probably European). A 

 handful of these flowers will sometimes exhale a 

 sweet fragrance; at other times, or from another 

 locality, they are scentless. Our evening primrose 

 is thought to be uniformly sweet-scented, but the 

 past season I examined many specimens, and failed 

 to find one that was so. Some seasons the sugar 

 maple yields much sweeter sap than at others; and 

 even individual trees, owing to the soil, moisture, 

 etc., where they stand, show a great difference in 

 this respect. The same is doubtless true of the 

 sweet-scented flowers. I had always supposed that 

 our Canada violet — the tall, leafy-stemmed white 



