2 AMONG THE WILD-FLOWERS 



and detained him seven years upon her island, 

 and died of a broken heart after he left her. 1 

 have a keen desire to see her in her floral guise, 

 reigning over some silent bog, or rising above 

 the moss of some dark glen in the woods, and 

 would gladly be the Ulysses .to be detained at 

 least a few hours by her. 



I will describe her by the aid of Gray, so 

 that if any of my readers come across her they 

 may know what a rarity they have found. She 

 may be looked for in cold, mossy, boggy places 

 in our Northern woods. You will see a low 

 flower somewhat like a lady's slipper; that is, 

 with an inflated sac-shaped lip, the petals and 

 sepals much alike, rising and spreading, the 

 color mingled purple and yellow, the stem, or 

 scape, from three to five inches high, with but 

 ©ne leaf, — that one thin and slightly heart- 

 shaped, with a stem which starts from a solid 

 bulb. That is the nymph of our boggy soli- 

 tudes, waiting to break her heart for any adven- 

 turous hero who may penetrate her domain. 



Several of our harmless little wild-flowers 

 have been absurdly named out of the old 

 mythologies: thus, Indian cucumber root, one 

 of Thoreau's favorite flowers, is named after 

 the sorceress Medea, and is called "medeola," 

 because it was at one time thought to possess 

 rare medicinal properties; and medicine and 

 sorcery have always been more or less con- 

 founded in the opinion of mankind. It is a 

 pretty and decorative sort of plant, with, when 

 perfect, two stages or platforms of leaves, one 



