238 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND EOREST. 



suspension during this month, of the efforts of nature, 

 while she is preparing to unfold the brilliant treasures 

 of autumn. 



The spring produces in the greatest abundance those 

 flowers that affect a northern latitude. As the season 

 advances we find more of those tribes which are pe- 

 culiar to warm climates. The roses and rosaceous 

 flowers usually appear in the early summer weeks, and 

 the flowers of these genera are rare in tropical regions, 

 being the denizens chiefly of temperate latitudes. The 

 papilionaceous flowers, of which the greater numbers 

 of species are found within the tropics, do not appear 

 with us in profusion until the latter part of summer. 

 The prevailing hues of the summer flowers are the dif- 

 ferent shades of scarlet, crimson, and purple, which 

 become paler as the days decrease in length and the 

 temperature becomes cooler. Thus the bulbous are- 

 thusa, that flowers in June, is of a brilliant purple or 

 crimson ; while the adder's-tongue arethusa, that appears 

 a month later, is of a pale lilac. The brightest tints of 

 our native species belong to the summer flowers. Such 

 are* the scarlet lobelia, the narrow-leaved kalmia, the 

 red lily, and the swamp rose. 



With August commences a kind of vegetation unlike 

 any that has preceded it. The compound flowers, a 

 very extensive tribe, begin to be conspicuous. These 

 flowers are characteristic of vegetation in the autumn, 

 the greater part of them coming to perfection during 

 this season, commencing with a few species in the 

 month of August. All these increase in beauty and 

 variety until September arrives, bearing superb garlands 

 of asters, sunflowers, and golden-rods, which, though 

 exceeded in delicacy and brilliancy by the earlier flow- 

 ers, are unsurpassed in splendor.^ The season of the 



