V. 



WHITE AND GREENISH WILD FLOWERS 



plant as a substitute for asparagus. It is said to have 

 a flavour much like green peas. 



SPRING BEAUTY. CLAYTONIA 



Clayibnia virginica. Purslane Family. 



Ever since the beginning of things there has been 

 a wide range of temperament exhibited among the 

 beauties of creation, and it is no less pronounced among 

 flowers than it is peculiar to those who begin to betray 

 it at sweet sixteen. So here 's to the Spring Beauty, 

 may her tribe increase! Although apparently indif- 

 ferent to the cold blasts of March and early April, 

 and bold in her effort to be first among the debutantes 

 at Nature's earliest social gathering, she becomes 

 extremely sensitive if her whims happen to be opposed. 

 She loves the glorious sun and courts and courtseys 

 before his radiations with all the charming affectation 

 her flushed, wide-spreading petals can command. 

 She blushes as she greets him from rising to setting, 

 turning as he travels from east to west, and then back 

 again each morning to repeat the operation when he 

 returns. But let him disappoint her, and she imme- 

 diately pouts and droops, and refuses to be consoled 

 until the clouds break away, and he reappears. If 

 you chance to pluck this dainty miss, she promptly 

 sulks, and no amount of coaxing will prevail to change 

 her hopeless mood, without the endearing rays of her 

 affinity. So much for the sun's influence upon the 

 temperament of the Spring Beauty. During March, 

 April, and May the starry flowers of the Claytonia 



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