YELLOW 



flowers. Linnaeus says that this genus is named after Lysim- 

 achus, King of Sicily. Loosestrife is the English for Lysim- 

 achus ; but whether the ancient superstition that the placing 

 of these flowers upon the yokes of oxen rendered the beasts 

 gentle and submissive arose from the peace-suggestive title or 

 from other causes, I cannot discover. 



YELLOW LOOSESTRIFE. 



Lysimachia stricta. Primrose Family. 



The yellow loosestrife bears its flowers, which are similar to 

 those of L. quadrifolia, in a terminal raceme ; it has opposite 

 lance-shaped leaves. Its bright yellow clusters border the 

 streams and brighten the marshes from June till August. 



ROCK-ROSE. FROST-WEED. 



Helianthemum Canadense. Rock-rose Family. 



About one foot high. Leaves. Set close to the stem, simple, lance- 

 oblong. Flowers. Of two kinds : the earlier, more noticeable ones, 

 yellow, solitary, about one inch across ; the later ones small and clustered, 

 usually without petals. Calyx. (Of the petal-bearing flowers) of five 

 sepals. Corolla. Of five early falling petals which are crumpled in the 

 bud. Stamens. Numerous. Pistil. One, with a three-lobed stigma. 



These fragile bright yellow flowers are found in gravelly 

 places in early summer. Under the influence of the sunshine 

 they open once; by the next day their petals have fallen, and 

 their brief beauty is a thing of the past. On June iyth Thoreau 

 finds this " broad, cup-like flower, one of the most delicate yellow 

 flowers, with large spring-yellow petals, and its stamens laid one 

 way. ' ' 



In the Vale of Sharon a nearly allied rose-colored species 

 abounds. This is believed by some of the botanists who have 

 travelled in that region to be the Rose of Sharon which Solomon 

 has celebrated. 



The name of frost-weed has been given to our plant because 

 of the crystals of ice which shoot from the cracked bark at the 

 base of the stem in late autumn. 



140 



