ii4 PLANTS GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 



setting that it has chosen for its own loveliness. It withers 

 and turns black almost immediately after being plucked. As 

 it uproots easily, it is often the case that those seeing it for the 

 first time and being overcome with delight, tear it up ruthlessly 

 and carry great quantities of it away. This thoughtlessness 

 can hardly be denounced too strongly ; and it is on the high 

 road to exterminating some of our choicest species. 



LARGE FLOWERED MILKWORT. (Plate 



Potygala grandiflbra. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Milkwort. Rose purple. Scentless. Mostly south. Late summer. 



flowers : clustered in long racemes on flower-stalks. Calyx : of five very 

 unequal sepals, three small at the base of the flower and two rising, coloured 

 and petal-like, at each side, appearing like little wings. Stamen* : six or eight. 

 Pistil: one. Leaves: alternate; lanceolate. Stem: much branched; hairy. 



As these quaint little blossoms grow older, and one would 

 never associate the idea of age with them did they not rebel so 

 openly themselves, their rosy hue forsakes them, and they turn 

 rather greenish. They retain, however, their lively, fly-away 

 expression, which even old Father Time is unable to subdue. 



PURPLE POLYGALA. 



Potygala viridtscens. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Milkwort. Rose lavender^ white Scentless. New England south to Summer, 



or greenish. N. Carolina and westward. 



Flowers : growing in a dense oblong head, or spike. Calyx : of five unequal 

 sepals, the two inner ones being larger than, and coloured like, the petals. 

 Corolla: of three united petals, the lower one shaped like a keel. Stamens: 

 six, or more. Pistil: one. Leaves: numerous; alternate; linear. Stem: four 

 to eight inches high; upright; leafy; branched. 



An odd little flower that we all know in the moist meadows 

 and by the roadsides, but which few of us can call by name. 

 Purple polygala seems such a pretentious title for so fragile a 

 blossom. Eye-spy would suit it better as it is always peeping 

 out from unexpected places. 



