3,6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and resembles the yucca or Spanish bayonet of the southern 

 counties, the small, greenish- white flowers being borne in a dense 

 panicle on the summit of a stout stem, from three to seven feet 

 in height. The long, narrow leaves are smooth and grasslike, 

 and are suggestive of corn or sugar cane. Close at hand, the 

 spirea, or steeple-bush, waves high in air its feathery white or 



WASHINGTON LILIES. 



magenta plumes ; and beyond are thickets of wild plums and 

 hazelnuts, mingled with low bushes of thimbleberries, huckle- 

 berries, and large, prickly gooseberries. 



There are a number of roadside and pasture plants, known by 

 farmers as " weeds," which nevertheless seem to have imbibed 

 the very spirit of midsummer. Among them are included the 

 dainty evening primose (Enoihera biennis) ; the clematis, or "vir- 

 gin's bower," festooning itself gracefully from tree to tree, with 

 the wild grape and ivy ; the milkweed (Asdepias), with its dull- 

 pink flowers and big, oval seed pods, filled with brown seeds and 

 silky white down ; the yellow sunflower ; the flame- colored Cas 

 telleia, or "Indian's paint brush"; the golden-rod, three to six 



