APRIL. 



49 



It has a large white flower, shaped like a leaf, 

 and looking like an alabaster vase, while from 

 the centre rises the bright golden column. 

 Leaves of glossy surface and bright green 

 colour, sometimes two feet in length, add to its 

 beauty, and it is so like the wild arum that it 

 will not be doubted as being of the same tribe. 

 It is very common at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 having a most magnificent appearance on any 

 moist portion of that arid soil, and growing 

 even in ditches. 



Several species of arum afford medicines, 

 and the roots of some kinds, when boiled in 

 milk, are thought to have been very usefuHn 

 consumption. The dumb cane yields a juice 

 which gives a permanent dye to linen. Some 

 of the newly-gathered leaves are used in Deme- 

 rara as blisters. One kind, very abundant in 

 the woods of North America, is called the 

 Indian turnip, as the Indians eat its boiled root. 

 This is the arwn atropurpurewn, which has 

 handsome leaves tinged with blue, and which is 

 a vegetable of great service to the European 

 settlers in these vast forests. The soft, silky 

 leaves of some species are used in some hot 

 countries as plates and dishes. 



One or two species of spirasa are now begin- 

 ning to put forth their blossoms on the shrubs. 

 The smooth-leaved spircca {Spircea lcvvigata)is 

 one of the earliest, and is a native of Siberia. 

 Its flowers are of a pale rose colour. The 

 pretty flower, commonly called Itahan May, 

 (Spircea Jiypericifolia,) is a very well-kuoAvn 



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