The Plants of our Woods and Fields. 27 



somebody, perhaps, with a variegated leaf variety, when it would henceforth 

 become all the rage? A small pot of a delicate and wiry-leaved grass-look- 

 ing plant stood out conspicuous at that floral festival among other wonders ; 

 it was some kind of Scirpus or bulrush : but no name accompanied it ; and, 

 whether from abroad or from near at hand, we were not informed. It was 

 very pretty, and its weak stems and leaves hung profusely over the pot's 

 edge : but any one may find just as pretty, and perhaps the identical, who 

 seeks for Hcmicarpha on the sandy borders of our rivers and ponds ; and 

 a chance bit of this completely filled, in a single summer, a large pot, in 

 which it sprang up from the soil employed by us in cultivating an aquatic 

 plant. 



The beautiful spider-worts, now of every color, white, rosy, light-blue, 

 and purple-blue, all spring from care'fully-selected seedlings of a wild plant 

 we find growing plentifully on the rich hills and woods of the West, and 

 are the garden products of Tradescantia Virginka, commemorating the elder 

 Iradescaunf, gardener to Charles I., and the part of North America from 

 where it was brought by some student of the great Linnaeus. The delight 

 of my old friend Carter, of the Cambridge Botanic Garden, at these new 

 varieties, as they appeared, I well recall, though many years have flown by 

 since that time. Closely related is the day-flower {Commclynd). The sky- 

 blue flowered {ccelestis) comes to us from Mexico : it finds a place in our 

 seed-lists, and knows of variation in its flowers ; but there are two or three 

 species nearer home, and belonging to the United States. I have often 

 wondered why some attempts have not been made to induce the pickerel- 

 weed to grow in dryer spots. Its rich purple spikes vie successfully with the 

 vernal hyacinth : perhaps a border of peat and sphagnum would tempt its 

 growth. Caltha palustris, which ordinarily prefers a similar situation of 

 mud and water, will thrive in the border, and is cultivated in its double- 

 flowered condition. For effect derived from stateliness and foliage, the 

 false hellebore ( Veratrum viride) can be recommended : it does best in the 

 black soil of decayed leaves on the edges of meadows ; but we have seen it 

 flourish very well in other soil. A pretty red-berried and rosy, bell-shaped, 

 flowered, herbaceous plant is the Streptopus roseus, occasionally found in 

 our rich moist woods, and worth the seeking for. It belongs to the bell- 

 wort family, and is a fitting companion to the elegant golden-flowered, 



