GRASS OF PARNASSUS. 61 



Leaving the strip of bog which has furnished 

 a whole season's entertainment, we keep along 

 the banks of the little stream until the foothills 

 are reached. Amid grass and sedge, seeped in 

 the cold water of a spring emerging from the 

 gently sloping land, a bed of Parnassia Caro- 

 liniana was discovered one September evening. 

 Little did I guess the treasure I had found and 

 the moments of joy which the future held for 

 me through this pure blossom ! 



Parnassia belongs to the Saxifragaceae 

 Family. A scape from eight to twenty-four 

 inches in length supports a terminal white 

 flower, or sometimes yellow. In our grassy, 

 hillside spring the flowers are white, with mi- 

 nute markings, or tiny flecks, of green, like the 

 shadows of lines in a bit of alabaster. A single 

 sessile leaf clasps the stem below the middle. 



A cluster of roundish, petioled leaves rises 

 at the base. Alternate with the five broadly 

 ovate, marcescent petals are five stamens, and 

 at the base of each petal a cluster of three 

 staminoidia, or imperfect stamens. In another 

 variety there are from nine to fifteen stam- 

 inoidia. 



Here is an illustration of the economy of 

 plant development : Five stamens proving suffi- 

 cient to fertilize the numerous ovules of the 

 capsule, the remaining ones cease to perform 



