114 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 LV) 

 Polj^gala 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. Stainetis : six or eight. 

 Pistil : owQ. Zi'rt^'6'j; 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 

 against it so openly, — 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. 



Polygala viridescetis. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Milkwort. Rose lavender^ white Scentless. New En};land south to Summer. 



or greenish. N. Carolina a?id 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. 



