PINK 



some of the many pests she has shipped to our shores in view of 

 this radiant acquisition. The botany locates it anywhere be- 

 tween Nova Scotia and Delaware. It may be seen in the per- 

 fection of its beauty along the marshy shores of the Hudson and 

 in the swamps of the Wallkill Valley. 



When we learn that these flowers are called ' ' long purples, ' ' 

 by the English country people, the scene of Ophelia's tragic 

 death rises before us : 



There is a willow grows aslant a brook, 



That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream, 



There with fantastic garlands did she come, 



Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples 



That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, 



But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them. 



Dr. Prior, however, says that it is supposed that Shakespeare 

 intended to designate the purple-flowering orchis, O. mascula, 

 which is said to closely resemble the showy orchis (PL LXII.) 

 of our spring woods. 



The flowers of the purple loosestrife are especially interest- 

 ing to botanists on account of their trimorphism, which word 

 signifies occurring in three forms, and refers to the stamens and 

 pistils, which vary in size in the different blossoms, being of 

 three different lengths, the pollen from any given set of stamens 

 being especially fitted to fertilize a pistil of corresponding length. 



MEADOW-BEAUTY. DEER-GRASS. 



Rhexia Virginica. Melastoma Family. 



Stem. Square, with wing-like angles. Leaves. Opposite, narrowly 

 oval. Flowers. Purplish-pink, clustered. Calyx-tube. Urn-shaped, four- 

 cleft at the apex. Corolla. Of four large rounded petals. Stamens. 

 Eight, with long curved anthers. Pistil. One. 



It is always a pleasant surprise to happen upon a bright patch 

 of these delicate deep-hued flowers along the marshes or in the 

 sandy fields of midsummer. Their fragile beauty is of that order 

 which causes it to seem natural that they should belong to a 

 genus which is the sole northern representative of a tropical fam- 

 ily. In parts of New England they grow in profusion, while in 

 Arkansas the plant is said to be a great favorite with the deer, 



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