128 



CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



perfection with the greatest care and 

 culture ; while our natives, if they get 

 any chance at all, bloom quite freely, 

 and amply repay any care or culture 

 bestowed on them. The technicalities 

 of Botany are principally used for the 

 describing and naming of plants, which 

 make it useful and interesting. In this 

 paper I purpose giving a sketch of a 

 ramble in the woods. 



In crossing the river we notice 

 the common blue flag (Iris versicolor ), 

 or the Fleur-de-Lis of France. We 

 tind it has relatives all over the world, 

 yet our native is worthy of a place 

 among its foreign rivals. We pull one 

 up with the roots and tind it has a 

 creeping root stalk, stem stout and 

 angled on one side ; the leaves are sword- 

 shaped and from half to one inch 

 in width ; they are parallel veined, tell- 

 ing us plainly it belongs to the lily 

 family ; yet the leaves differ somewhat 

 from the ordinaryparallel-veinedleaves. 

 While most leaves spread horizontally 

 and present one face to the sky and the 

 other to the earth, the Iris presents its 

 tip to the sky and its face right and 

 left to the horizon. On careful inspec- 

 tion we tind each leaf is formed folded 

 together lengthwise, so that what would 

 be the upper surface is within, and all 

 grown together, except near the bottom, 

 where each leaf covers the nextyounger. 

 It was from this folding of the leaves 

 that they take the name of equitant 

 leaves. The flower is a lovely purple, 

 veined with white and yellow, having 

 yellow hairs on the petals like little 

 brushes. These hairs are useful in 

 fertilization. When an insect goes in 

 to get nectar, it is covered with pollen 

 and this brush seems to brush the insect 

 off" and it is thus rubbed on the stigma 

 and fertilized. The six petal-like divi- 

 sions of the flower are in two sets of 

 three each. The three outer divisions 

 are reflexed, the three inner erect and 

 smaller, the stamens distinct, the anther 

 of each concealed under a flat and petal- 

 like arching stigma. The colors are 



charmingly blended, hence the mytho- 

 logical name of the rainbow. 



In rambling on through the woods 

 we come to a rocky bank. Here we 

 get the Columbine {Aquilegia Canaden- 

 sis), witli its nodding flowers of orange 

 and scarlet. It has five petals which 

 are attached and form five hollow tubes 

 called spurs. It is at the end of these 

 spurs, where the nectar or honey is 

 stored. It is also from these spurs that 

 the plant derives name, Aquilegia, from 

 the fancied resemblance to an eagle's 

 talons. The flowers are very showy 

 and terminate the branches. The leaves 

 are decompound and of a pleasing green 

 color. It has also a sister in the West, a 

 native of the Rocky Mountains, which 

 is blue and white. But we must not 

 remain too long here on this rocky bank 

 with the Aquilegia. 



Hastening on through the wood we 

 come to a marshy place with a lot of 

 old logs and stumps of trees. Here we 

 find a beautiful little creeping vine. 

 We examine it and it has two pretty 

 little pink bell-shaped flowers. We 

 look up over Botany and find there is 

 only one species, that is Linn(f-a bore- 

 alls. Linn;eus' most intimate friend, 

 Dr. J. F. Gronovius, with the concur- 

 rence of Linna?us, selected this little 

 depressed sweet flowei-ing, long over- 

 looked plant to transmit the illustrious 

 name of the great botanist to posterity. 

 As I have said there is only one species. 

 It is a beautiful little trailing evergreen 

 plant, with long slender branches, bear- 

 ing small ovate or obovate leaves. It 

 sends up erect thread-like flower stalks, 

 which fork near the top. Here are the 

 two gracefully drooping bell-shaped 

 flowers from which the plant derives 

 its common name of twin flower. It 

 grows almost exclusively in woods in 

 cold moist situations, but, although 

 growing in wet places, we never get 

 the roots in water, but high and dry on 

 an old log or stump. It is widely dis- 

 persed over North America, also North- 

 ern Europe and Asia according to some 



