BOG PLANTS 297 



of the question for America, but London pride is a British wild 

 flower which I hope some day to see naturalized in American woods, 

 growing by the million and furnishing an evergreen carpet to 

 delight eye and foot the year round. 



He also showed me three pretty little creepers of which I 

 must say a word. The first is a midget called Gunnera Ma- 

 gellanica (see plate 35). You would never guess its relationship 

 to the species with the titanic leaves. It is a lovely plant for the 

 margin of a pool. It takes to water like a duck, and it is amusing 

 to see this hardy little Patagonian creeper ride over the surface of 

 a miniature lake. 



The second (pictured at plate 100) is the bog pimpernel 

 (Anagallis tenella), a British plant related to the "poor man's 

 weather-glass." It bears myriads of tiny pink flowers, and is also 

 admirable for its slender stems and the beauty of its paired leaves. 



Third is the ivy-leaved bellflower (Wahlenbergia hederacea) 

 which bears a great many pale bluish-purple flowers, not half an 

 inch long, in summer and autumn. The blossoms droop in the 

 bud, stand nearly erect when in full bloom, and often droop again 

 when in fruit. It is as innocent and appealing as a baby, with 

 its thread-like branches and its diminutive leaves that mimic 

 those of the ivy. This, also, is a British plant. 



WILD FLOWER EFFECTS 



This loyalty to the native wild flowers is an admirable trait 

 in English country gentlemen. In the same spirit country gentle- 

 men in America will some day see to it that their neglected woods 

 are carpeted with wild flowers by the ten thousand as they were 

 in the days of the Indian. One man will plant 1,000 bulbs of 

 Jack-in-the-pulpit* at a cost of thirty-five dollars. Another will 



