STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 



Till Cowslips wan and Daisies pied 

 Broider the hillock's side, 

 And opening Hawthorn buds are seen 

 Decking the hedge-row screen ? 



What though the Primrose, drest 



In her pure modest vest, 



Came rashly forth 



To brave the biting North, 



Did ye not see her fall 



Straight 'neath his snowy pall ? 



And heard ye not the West Wind sigh 



Her requiem as he hurried by ? 



Go hide ye, then, till groves are green 

 And April's clouded bow is seen, 

 Till sans are bright, and skies are clear, 

 And every flower that doth appear 

 Proclaims the birthday of the year. 



C. P. T. 



LIVER-LEAF WIND-FLOWER Hepatica acutiloba (DC.). 



(PLATE II.) 



** Lodged in sunny clefts, 



Where the cold breeze comes not, blooms alone 

 The little Wind-flower,* whose just opened eye 

 Is blue as the spring heaven it gazes at." 



Bryant. 



The American poet Bryant has many happy allusions 

 to the Hepatica under the name of " Wind-flower." The 

 more common name among our Canadian settlers is " Snow- 

 flower," it being the first blossom that appears directly 

 after the melting of the winter snows. 



In the forest in open, grassy woods, on banks and 

 upturned roots of trees this sweet flower gladdens the eye 

 with its cheerful starry blossoms; every child knows it and 

 fills its hands and pinafore with its flowers pink, blue, 

 deep azure and pure white. What the daisy is to England 



- The blue-flowered Hepatica triloba is evidently the flower meant by the poet. 



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