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our own frost-weeds. To the right of this is the violet 
family; a collection of our native species, together with 
some from foreign lands, is here brought together and 
many of these may be recognized as old friends. Near the 
violet bed is one devoted to the loasa family. Upon the 
ridge to the right, across the walk, may be found the cactus 
family; relatively few of these are hardy in this climate, so 
the larger part of the cactus collection must be sought 
at conservatory range I, houses 6, 7, and 8. Here may 
be found, however, several representatives of the prickly 
pears (Opuntia), including the eastern prickly pear, com- 
mon in this part of the country, which is frequently found 
on the rocky ridges in the vicinity of New York and occurs 
wild on some ledges within the Garden reservation. Down 
near the brook, and not far from the mallow family, is 
the loosestrife family, represented by the purple loosestrife, 
a native of Europe, but introduced in many places in this 
country; among others belonging to this family is the 
swamp loosestrife, or willow-herb (Decodon), a clump of 
which may be found along the brook opposite to the 
loosestrife bed. But a short distance from the violet 
family is the evening-primrose family; here may be found 
a number of the evening primroses (Oenothera), with their 
showy yellow flowers, noteworthy as the plants mainly 
experimented with by Professors DeVries and MacDougal 
in their studies on the origin of species. Along the brook, 
not far from the loosestrife family, is the water-milfoil 
family, represented by the Chilean water-milfoil or parrot’s- 
feather, forming a beautiful mass of feathery green on the 
surface of the water. Returning now to the ridge, a little 
beyond the violet family, we find the bed allotted to the 
ginseng family; here are the Indian-root, from eastern 
North America, and the heart-leaved aralia from Japan. 
To this family also belongs the ginseng plant, the root of 
which is so much prized by the Chinese as a medicine. 
Down the slope from this group may be found two beds 
given over to the carrot family, which includes many 
