1 66 STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 



"Scarlet tufts 



Are glowing in the green, like flakes of fire ; 

 The wanderers of the prairie know them well, 

 And call that brilliant flower the painted -cup,' 



sings Bryant of a Western species. But on second thought per- 

 haps the cardinal may still retain his prestige on a technicality, 

 for, strictly speaking, the "brilliant flower" of the painted-cup is a 

 misnomer. The actual blossom is an inconspicuous affair, but it 

 wears a gorgeous cape and mantle which have apparently been 

 dipped half way in the rarest of brilliant dyes, the color being in 

 truth displayed upon the floral leaves rather than on the flowers. 



What a fine pure yellow is that of the toad-flax ! But our 

 finest and most conspicuous yellows are among the golden- rods 

 and sunflowers and their kin of rudbeckias and sneeze -weeds. 

 The finest orange flaunts in the bloom of the butterfly-weed 

 (Asclepias tuberosa}. The asters "Amethystinus " and Nova AngUc 

 wear the choicest purple, and in the tiny forget-me-not we find a 

 touch of pure prismatic blue, which nature has here economized 

 as in a turquoise ; its like is nowhere repeated in our flora. 



I know of few finer and more harmonious displays of color to 

 be found in the whole wild garden than is afforded by a bed of 

 blue lupines a typical bed, such as I have in mind, with their 

 dense foliage and spires of bloom thrown in bold relief against a 

 background of sunlit sand. It is worth a ten-mile walk to see 

 one such bed in its prime. " Blue lupine " it is called, but it 

 rings the changes on the sapphire tints, and lays the amethyst in 

 tribute as well, with its infinite variety, from deepest purple to 

 palest pink or white, and in its perfect complementary contrast of 

 the background of sunny sand affords a rare harmony of color. 



That is a fine sample of maroon velvet which the ground-nut 

 (Apios tuberosa) blossom holds within its heart. You will find it 

 on no other petal. This ground-nut blossom is one of the most 

 powerfully fragrant of our native wild flowers, exhaling a perfume 

 somewhat suggesting that of the wild grape, and both of which 

 bring reminders of mignonette. 



