WHITE 



some fine exhibits attracted the admiration of thousands. The 

 shrub has been carefully cultivated in England, having been 

 brought to great perfection on some of the English estates. It is 

 yearly winning more notice in this country. 



The generic name is from the Greek for rose-tree. 



WOOD SORREL. 



Oxalis Acetosella. Geranium Family. 



Scape. One-flowered, two to five inches high. Leaves. Divided into 

 three clover - like leaflets. Flower. White veined with red, solitary. 

 Calyx. Of five sepals. Corolla. Of five petals. Stamens. Ten. Pistil. 

 One with five styles. 



Surely nowhere can be found a daintier carpeting than that 

 made by the clover-like foliage of the wood sorrel when studded 

 with its rose-veined blossoms in the northern woods of June. 

 At the very name comes a vision of mossy nooks where the sun- 

 light only comes on sufferance, piercing its difficult path through 

 the tent-like foliage of the forest, resting only long enough to be- 

 come a golden memory. 



The early Italian painters availed themselves of its chaste 

 beauty. Mr. Ruskin says: " Fra Angelico's use of the Oxalis 

 Acetosella is as faithful in representation as touching in feeling. 

 The triple leaf of the plant and white flower stained purple 

 probably gave it strange typical interest among the Christian 

 painters." 



Throughout Europe it bears the odd name of ' ' Hallelujah ' ' 

 on account of its flowering between Easter and Whitsuntide, the 

 season when the Psalms sung in the churches resound with that 

 word. There has been an unfounded theory that this title sprang 

 from St. Patrick's endeavor to prove to his rude audience the 

 possibility of a Trinity in Unity from the three-divided leaves. 

 By many this ternate leaf has been considered the shamrock of 

 the ancient Irish. 



The English title, " cuckoo- bread," refers to the appearance 

 of the blossoms at the season when the cry of the cuckoo is first 

 heard. 



Our name sorrel is from the Greek for sour and has reference 



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