ACCORDING TO SEASON 



Lupine 



Cancer- 

 root 



Different 

 shades of 

 yellow 



pears, or if they are picked, the little " blue " 

 eyes close. 



A flower of this season that may fairly be de- 

 scribed as blue is the lupine. It grows usually in 

 sandy, somewhat open places, where little else 

 flourishes, with long, bright clusters of pea-like 

 blossoms that make the hill-side seem a reflection 

 of May skies. 



An odd and, with me, somewhat unusual little 

 plant, which may be found flowering in damp 

 woods at this season, is the cancer-root. It is a 

 parasite, living on the roots of other plants, and 

 its leafless, lurid yellow stems are crowned with 

 a rather pretty lavender-colored flower which re- 

 sembles a violet. 



The different shades of yellow are abundant 

 now. It is not easy to understand the spirit 

 which moved Wordsworth, that faithful celebrant 

 of the " unassuming commonplace," to write 



" 111 befall the yellow flowers 

 Children of the flaring hours. 



The spring would lose something of its joy if its 

 consummation were not blazoned in our conscious- 

 ness by the gold of the dandelions. Their lovely 

 constellations make a little heaven on earth of the 

 grassy places that have been brown and bare for 

 months. The first dandelions touch the heart- 



70 



