PINK 



shrub by the Swedes in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. 

 Peter Kalm, the pupil of Linnaeus, after whom our laurel, Kal- 

 mia, is named, writes the following description of the shrub in 

 his "Travels," which were published in English in 1771, and 

 which explain the origin of one of its titles : *< Some of the 

 Swedes and Dutch call them Pinxter-bloem (Whitsunday-flower) 

 as they really are in bloom about Whitsuntide ; and at a distance 

 they have some similarity to the Honeysuckle or < Lonicera. ' 

 Its flowers were now open and added a new ornament 

 to the woods. . . . They sit in a circle round the stem's 

 extremity and have either a dark red or a lively red color ; but 

 by standing for some time the sun bleaches them, and at last they 

 get to a whitish hue. . . . They have some smell, but I 

 cannot say it is very pleasant. However, the beauty of the 

 flower entitles them to a place in every flower-garden." While 

 our pink azalea could hardly be called " dark red " under any 

 circumstances, it varies greatly in the color of its flowers. 

 The azalea is the national flower of Flanders. 



Rhododendron Rhodora. Heath Family. 



A shrub from one to two feet high. Leaves. Oblong, pale. Floivers. 

 Purplish-pink. Calyx. Small. Corolla. Two-lipped, almost without 

 any tube. Stamens. Ten, not protruding. Pistil. One, not protruding. 



In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, 



I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, 



Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook, 



To please the desert and the sluggish brook. 



The purple petals, fallen in the pool, 



Made the black water with their beauty gay ; 



Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool, 



And court the flower that cheapens his array. 



Rhodora ! if the sages ask thee why 



This charm is wasted on the earth and sky, 



Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing, 



Then Beauty is its own excuse for being ; 



Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose ! 



I never thought to ask, I never knew ; 



But in my simple ignorance, suppose 



The self-same Power that brought me there, brought you. * 



* Emerson. 

 184 



