)m0w£r0y. 



(&alantl)US ninalis. Natural Order: Afi/aiyllidaceiV — Amaryllis Family 



URICH, with the adjoining cantons of Switzerland and some 

 — other localities in Europe, may be considered the original 

 habitats of this little plant, the botanical name of which sig- 

 , j^ nifies Snowy Milk-flower. It flourishes in the meadows and 

 : „ along the water courses that abound in the neighborhood of 

 " " ^^^' ^^^ Alps, where the pure and everlasting snow rests like a 

 cloud between the blue sk}- above and the green and fertile valley 

 beneath It is ver}' hard}-, as it would indeed have to be to exist 

 miid such surroundings. Having been many years cultivated, it has 

 found its way from the parterres abroad into the gardens of America, 

 where it may be seen peeping from its snowy coverlet long before 

 other flowers burst from their wintry prisons, or nature awakes from 

 her dreaming. The roots are bulbous, and in planting they show to 

 better advantage where several (from six to eight) are set in a group, when, in 

 a few years, the increase will warrant a division. The flower is of a tair size, 

 and pendulous, with onl}- a single blossom on a stem. 







H! sweetly be.iutiful it is to m.irk 

 The virgin, vernal snowdrop! liftii 

 Meek as a nun — the whiteness of 



g up — 

 its cup,. 



From earth's dead bosom, desolate and dark. 



QWEET flower, thou tellvt how 1 

 ^ As pure and tender as thy leaf- 



And humble as thy stem — will 

 The joy that peace imparts. 



-Percival. 



ITER precious pearl, in sor 



Unmelted at the bottom 



To shine again, when, all dn 



The bitterness should pasi 



l.\V, 



ink up, 

 away. 



'T'lIE little shape, by magic pow'r, 



Grew less and less, contracted to a flow'r; 

 A flow'r, that first in this sweet garden smiled. 

 To virgins sacred, and the snowdrop styled. 



'—Tickell. 



I 



