If 



'p%A6VW0xt. 



(SraiJcSCantia DirgilUCa. Natural Order: CofiimelynacciV—'Sfidcrrvort Family. 



-AMED after John Tradescant, a favorite gardener of Charles I. 

 of England, and after his son of the same name, both distin- 

 guished botanists and travelers, this plant is familiarly known 

 as the Spiderwort. It is a common plant, with coarse, grass- 

 T^-^"-^ like leaves, and pretty purple or rose-colored flowers of a 

 T-f 3O delicate texture. It is almost impossible to prepare a perfect 

 specimen for the herbarium, as the least pressure discolors and withers 

 its petals beyond recognition. The stem when broken discovers a 

 viscous juice, that spins out like a spider's silken thread as the parts 

 are separated, thus giving it its common appellation. Tiie Cleome 

 pungens has also been sometimes called Spiderwort, or Spiderflower, 

 but belongs to the Caper Family, and is a tall, showy, biennial plant. 

 The flowers, which bloom in racemes, are separately rather curious in 

 /i- structure. The petals are mounted on threadlike claws, and extending 

 above them, about twice their length, are the six stamens, like so many 

 legs of a spider. Cleome., from the Greek, means something closed; and pungens, 

 from the Latin, signifies piercing. 



BUT I forgot the parting words slie said, 

 So much they thrilled the all-attentive soul; 

 For one short moment human heart and head 



May bear such bliss — its present is the whole; 

 I had that present, till in whispers fell 

 With parting gesture her subdued farewell. 



— 'Jean hi^elow. 



■pLESSED, thrice blessed days! but ah! how short! 



Bless'd as the pleasing charms of holv men. 

 But fugitive, like those, and quickly gone. 

 O slippery state of things! What sudden turns, 



What strange vicissitudes, in the first leaf 

 Of man's sad history! today most happv: 

 And, ere toinorrow's sun has set, most abject! 

 How scant the space betw^een these vast extremes 



-Blair. 



^^- 



T^HE spider's most attenuated thread 



Is cord — is cable — to man's tender tie 

 On earthly bliss; it breaks at every breeze. 

 381 



1) 



