YELLOW AND ORANGE WILD FLOWERS 



immortalized by the Christians during the Middle 

 Ages, who dedicated this flower to Mary, the Mother 

 of Jesus. The name was originally Mary's Gold, 

 and Shakespeare refers to it in Cymbeline, where 

 the musicians sing : 



"Hearke, hearke, the Lark at Heaven's gate sings, and 



Phoebus gins arise, 

 His steeds to water at those Springs on chalic'd Flowers that lyes: 

 And winking Mary-buds begin to ope their golden eyes: 

 With everything that pretty is, my Lady sweet, arise. 

 Arise, arise." 



It is just as well to know, however, that the names 

 Marigold and Cowslip are more commonly and truth- 

 fully applied to altogether different species. Mari- 

 golds, as almost everyone knows, are the favourite, 

 old-fashioned, coarse-smelling, rough-and-ready gar- 

 den flowers which delighted our grandmothers, while 

 the Cowslips are, in reality, a species of Primrose. 

 Do you wonder what 's in a name ? The scientific 

 name, Caltha, means cup, and palus, a marsh — 

 hence Marsh Cup, a name which has some real signi- 

 ficance, and is aptly applied. The Marsh Marigolds 

 flourish along the wet borders of streams and marshes, 

 w T here the roots are more or less in the water and the 

 ground is springy and wet. Early in April the beau- 

 tiful, bright yellow cups of the flowers reflect the glory 

 of the sun from amid a thrifty, bushy clump of crisp, 

 glossy green leaves. They blossom in great pro- 

 fusion, and their attractive flowers are gathered in the ' 

 spring, tied in bunches, and sold along the streets of 

 our larger cities as Cowslips. The entire plant, root, 



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