5Tt)e JSprfnfl ffl^flti JFlotoers. 77 



easily. But they are born thirsty, and soon pine 

 without their liquid nourishment. It will not 

 suffice to give them a sponge-bath ; they de- 

 mand the bath-tub, and only luxuriate where 

 their roots are forever drinking the moisture. 



If you have a sharp eye and are acquainted 

 with its haunts, you will see the large leaves of 

 Orchis spectabilis, earliest of its family, pushing 

 up to join the spring-tide pageant. The dwarf 

 cornel has begun to prepare for its chase with 

 the twin-flower and Vaccinium over the pros- 

 trate logs ; while the bladder-fern and polypody 

 crowd the stumps and bowlders, and the little 

 Cystopteris is fast uncurling its interrogation- 

 points. 



One of our most beautiful wild flowers is the 

 little fringed Polygala (Polygala paucifolid), its 

 refined rose-red or purple flowers resembling a 

 small sweet-pea. It rises from long, white sub- 

 terranean runners, rambling over shady hill-sides 

 with the goldthread and star-flower, and occa- 

 sionally the fragile little oak-fern. Is there any 

 blossom poised quite so airily above its whorl of 

 lanceolate leaves as the star-flower; and could 

 there be anything fresher than the dainty, shin- 

 ing foliage of the goldthread, that threads its 

 leagues and leagues of golden runners through 

 the cool, shadowy places of the woods? All 



