CTfje JSprfns SWflti JFlotoers. 63 



assume several hues white, with shadings of 

 rose, and penciled with deeper-colored veins. 

 There is another form of spring beauty (C. 

 parvtflord), from Oregon, equally free bloom- 

 ing, which flowers later and spreads freely from 

 seed. Besides these, I find five additional forms 

 mentioned in the " Botanical Survey of the 

 Fortieth Parallel." 



Whoever has been in the woods in early 

 spring has met the bloodroot (Sangumaria 

 Canadensis), with its white, star-shaped corolla, 

 the delicately scented flowers preceding the 

 large, kidney-shaped leaves. Its only fault is its 

 ephemeral nature ; you scarcely obtain a glimpse 

 of it ere it is gone. It belongs to the poppy- 

 worts, nearly all of which are familiar with the 

 Horatian refrain : 



Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam. 



I suppose many flowers, like many people, have 

 their faults, if such they may be called. Even 

 the arbutus, if born again, I think, would wish 

 to appear with fresher leaves. 



When violets of every kind have jeweled 

 the fields and meadows, and crept into the 

 swamps and woods, there comes a sudden fall 

 of snow. The great white flakes everywhere 

 strew the ground, clustering round the beech- 



