THE TULIP.- 



BY B. J. LOSSING. 



Not one of Flora's brilliant race 



A form more perfect can display ; 

 Art could not fain more simple grace 



Nor Nature take a line away. 



Yet, rich as morn of many a hue 

 ^ When flushing clouds through darkness strike, 



The Tulip's petals shine in dew, 

 All beautiful, but none alike. 



Montgomery. 



Tulips ! Twolips ! what a delightful theme ! Beauty, grace, pas- 

 don, the purest offerings of the heart, the holiest memories, all bud 

 and blossom in the mind by the Creative Power of the sweet name 

 of Tulips— delicious, blooming Twolips. Who does not admire 

 Tulips, aye, who that has a heart to love, does not at times most 

 fervently worship Twolips. 



• The Tulip belongs to the Liliacae family, containing about a dozen species, mostly natives of 

 the Levant, or adjoining countries of Asia. Their roots are bulbous— leaves, few in number and dis- 

 poaed about the base of the stem— the latter simple and usually terminated by a solitary flower 

 The calyx is wanting— the corolla composed of six petals, and the stameni six in number. The 

 most noted species is the common garden Tulip, (T. gesneriana) which was first introduced into 

 European gardens by Conrad Gesner, who, in 1559 discovered it in the garden of an amateur at 

 AiUg^burgh He had received it from Constantinople as a present from a friend. 



