268 THE FLOWERS OF AUTUMN. 



large size and brilliant colors, and combine the two quali- 

 ties of delicacy and splendor in a greater degree than 

 those of any other season. Such are the different species 

 of the beautiful orchis tribe, the cardinal-flower, the 

 cymbidium, the arethusas, and some of the wild lilies. 

 The majority of the flowering shrubs put out their blos- 

 soms in early summer, just after the blossoming of the 

 fruit-trees. These diminish in number as the summer 

 advances, and in autumn hardly one is to be found that 

 is not loaded with seeds or fruit. The flowering plants 

 of autumn, however, though not shrubs, are woody in 

 their texture, and many are, in fact, a kind of annual 

 shrubbery. 



The summer flowers may be said to date their com- 

 mencement with the elegant Canadian rhodora, and to 

 end with the alder-leaved clethra, a flowering shrub very 

 common in our swamps, bearing long slender spikes of 

 white blossoms which have the odor of lilacs. During 

 this interval, the most beautiful flowering shrubs of our 

 climate unfold their blossoms. The rhodora is followed 

 in succession by the honeysuckles, the l%;almias, or false 

 laurels, the azaleas, the viburnums, and many others not 

 less important as ornaments of our native landscape. 

 The flowering of the alder-leaved clethra marks the de- 

 cline of summer. After this, the remainder of the month 

 of August is a period rather barren of wild-flowers. The 

 most of those which are peculiar to summer have faded, 

 and the autumnal tribes are still ripening their buds. 

 There seems to be a short suspension, during this month, 

 of the efforts of Nature, while she is preparing to unfold 

 the brilliant treasures of autumn. 



The spring produces in the greatest abundance those 

 flowers that affect a northern latitude. As the season 

 advances we find more of those tribes which are peculiar 

 to warm climates. The roses and rosaceous flowers usu- 



