iuv. 83 



tremulous agitation caused by the blustering 

 ■winds, that objects, very different in them- 

 selves, are scarcely to be distinguished from 

 each other." Linnteus describes the flower as 

 shaped like a lily of the valley, but with five 

 sharper divisions. Barren and dreary as are 

 some lands in the north of Europe, yet many 

 beautiftil flowers are found on their hills, or in 

 their dark pine forests. Linna;us speaks Avith 

 rapture of the verdui'e and flowers of his native 

 land, and Olaus Eudbeck was so well satisfied 

 with its beauty, that, instead of thinking that 

 the garden of Eden lay amid the palm-trees, 

 and the roses and jessamines of eastern lands, 

 he discovered that one j)art of Sweden had 

 certainly been the scene of the original Para- 

 dise. 



And now the large dark pujrple bells of the 

 climbing cobasa {Cobcea sca7idcns) hang over 

 the trelhs of the arbour, and its foliage heljjs to 

 cover the garden wall. The Mexicans, among 

 whom this handsome plant grows wild, call it 

 by a Spanish word, signifying the ^dolet-bearing 

 ivy. It received its botanic name from Bar- 

 nardes Cobo, a Spanish Jesuit and naturalist of 

 the seventeenth centmy. It is very remark- 

 able for its rapid growth. Even in the open 

 air this is very striking ; Avhile in a conserva- 

 tory, it has been known to increase in length, 

 two hundred feet in the course of a summer. 

 This was long the only species cultivated in 

 Great Britain; but in 184.0, the seeds of two 

 others were sent to England from Mexico, by 



