WHITE 



when it seems as though it needed but little knowledge of flowers 

 to recognize that yellow, probably, occurs more frequently among 

 them than any other color, and also at the representation of this 

 same nature as 



Spending scarlet like a woman 



when in reality she is so chary of this splendid hue ; still we can- 

 not but appreciate that this poet was in close and peculiar sym- 

 pathy with flowers, and was wont to paint them with more than 

 customary fidelity. 



We look for the spring beauty in April and May, and often 

 find it in the same moist places on a brook's edge or skirting 

 the wet woods as the yellow adder's tongue. It is sometimes 

 mistaken for an anemone, but its rose-veined corolla and linear 

 leaves easily identify it. Parts of the carriage-drive in the Cen- 

 tral Park are bordered with great patches of the dainty blossoms. 

 One is always glad to discover these children of the country 

 within our city limits, where they can be known and loved by 

 those other children who are so unfortunate as to be denied the 

 knowledge of them in their usual haunts. If the day chances to 

 be cloudy these flowers close and are only induced to open again 

 by an abundance of sunlight. This habit of closing in the shade 

 is common to many flowers, and should be remembered by those 

 who bring home their treasures from the woods and fields, only 

 to discard the majority as hopelessly wilted. If any such ex- 

 hausted blossoms are placed in the sunlight, with their stems in 

 fresh water, they will probably regain their vigor. Should this 

 treatment fail, an application of very hot almost boiling water 

 should be tried. This heroic measure often meets with success. 



DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES. WHITE-HEARTS. 



Dicentra Cucttllaria. Fumitory Family. 



Scape. Slender. Leaves. Thrice - compound. Flowers. White and 

 yellow, growing in a raceme. Calyx. Of two small, scale-like sepals. 

 Corolla. Closed and flattened ; of four somewhat cohering white petals 

 tipped with yellow ; the two outer large, with spreading tips and deep spurs ; 

 the two inner small, with spoon-shaped tips uniting over the anthers and 

 stigma. Stamens. Six. Pistil. One. 



There is something singularly fragile and spring-like in the 

 appearance of this plant as its heart-shaped blossoms nod from 



34 



