102 PLANTS GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 



Oh, dearest, sweetest little thing, 

 What message do you bring 

 To us from other lands than ours 

 And other worlds of flowers ? 

 We bend our ears to listen, dear, 

 Our hearts grow mute with fear 

 Lest such a dainty, fairy sprite 

 Should vanish from our sight. 



It must be a cold heart that does not love the sweet white 

 violet. In its turn it loves the mossy, moist places that shield 

 it so carefully and from where it sends out its faint perfume. 



LANCE=LEAVED VIOLET. 



Viola lanceolata. 



This white violet has larger flowers than the preceding 

 species ; and the lance-shaped leaves that taper mto long peti- 

 oles are the mark by which it can be distinguished. The two 

 are often found growing together ; and belong to the class of 

 so-called stemless violets. These have no true stems ; but bear 

 their leaves from the root-stock, and the flowers upon scapes. 

 In the late season, near the root may be found cleistogamous 

 blossoms, closed buds that never open, but are within them- 

 selves self-fertilized. 



TALL riEADOW RUE. {Plate XL VII) 



Thaliciriun pol;^ga7num. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Crowfoot. White. Scentless. New England south- June^ July and August. 



ward and westward. 



Flowers : growing in large compound panicles. Calyx : of four to ten 

 petal-like sepals that blow off early. Stamens : very numerous and giving a 

 ball-like feathery effect. Pistils : four to fifteen, mostly borne on different 

 plants than the stamens. Leaves : alternately compound ; leaflets numerous, 

 small, rounded, sometimes lobed at the top. Stem : tall; erect; branching. 



A tall, graceful beauty that drinks of the cooling vapours be- 

 side the sparkling streams, or rears itself in the moist meadows 

 where the yellow field lilies are in bloom. There is a certain 

 luxury about the fleecy daintiness of the flowers and the growth 



