Pi'airie -Flowers. 1 3 1 



tellarias, cotton-grasses [Eriophorum) and Parnassia {Pahistris), and other 

 multitudinous growths of the prairie. 



Pretty objects at this season are liHput groves oi Apocymwi, — tree-like 

 herbs, full of rosy little bells, and inhabited by tiny beetles {Chrysomdians) 

 glowing with green and gold. 



Midsummer finds us gathering the stately blossoms of Cypripediuni spec- 

 tahile. Nothing at this season is so attractive, so healthfully robust in 

 outline, so grandly columnar in form, gracefully nerved and plaited 

 foliage, and flowers large, singular in shape, and of purest white rich 

 in purple shading. If removed to the garden, it must have moist peaty 

 soil. 



At this season, another phlox {P.glabernma), rosy-pink in color, and ever}'- 

 where abundant, is seen in compact masses or straggling stretches far amid 

 the green herbage. Wide-spreading spots of Pentstcmon pubescens also, of 

 somewhat paler hue, but handsome bloom, are of frequent occurrence, and 

 may be found in their chosen habitat year after year. So of the Chelom 

 glabra, which loves moist places and sedgy surroundings, but cannot con- 

 ceal amid the rank grass its spikes and clusters of puffy, turtle-headed, 

 white and rose-purple corollas. So of the pretty prairie-clovers {Petaiosiemon 

 violaceum and candiduni) whose habitat is the dryest, thinnest soil, and whose 

 white and violet spikelets of compact flowers clothe many a sterile spot 

 with beauty. 



By the middle of July, we notice the gold and purple of the handsome 

 lead-plant {Amorpha cancscens). The orange-red lilies {Lilinm Philadelphi- 

 ai?n) are wondrously bright, and with the yellow racemes of agrimony {A. 

 Eupatoria), and the snow-white bushes of Ceanothus Americanus, constitute 

 a graceful and effective group. 



Blue-eyed grass (^Sisyrinchium Bermudiana) ; yellow star-grass {Hypoxis 

 erccta) ; lovely harebells {Campanula)^ oi delicate blue; polygalas, various 

 and numerous, with showy heads of greenish-white and rosy-purple ; and 

 cassia {ChamcBcrista), with gracefully-pinnated leaves and bright-yellow 

 petals, large and gayly spread and purple-throated, — are found in great 

 profusion at this season. 



These massive clusters of wild bergamot {MoJiardafistidosa and M. Brad- 

 buriana) exhale a pleasant perfume. If we crush these heads of the tall 



