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Spiderwort, 
Cradescantia Dirginica. NaTuRAL OrpDER: Commelynacee—-Spiderwort Family. 
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< ~ AMED after John Tradescant, a favorite gardener of Charles I. 
S of England, and after his son of the same name, both distin- 
or ‘ w/* guished botanists and travelers, this plant is familiarly known 
Hk ( ¢ y as the Spiderwort. It is a common plant, with coarse, grass- 
ae! \-% like leaves, and pretty purple or rose-colored flowers of a 
x 5 delicate texture. It is almost impossible to prepare a perfect 
specimen for the herbarium, as the least pressure discolors and withers 
its petals beyond recognition. The stem when broken discovers a 
viscous juice, that spins out like a spider’s silken thread as the parts 
> are separated, thus giving it its common appellation. The Cleome 
pungens has also been sometimes called Spiderwort, or Spiderflower, 
but belongs to the Caper Family, and is a tall, showy, biennial plant. 
The flowers, which bloom in racemés, are separately rather curious in 
) > structure. The petals are mounted on threadlike claws, and extending 
yc above them, about twice their length, are the six stamens, like so many 
legs of a spider. Cleome, from the Greek, means something closed; and pungens, 
from the Latin, signifies piercing. 
Gransient Happiness. 
UT I forgot the parting words she said, 
So much they thrilled the all-attentive soul; 
For one short moment human heart and head 
May bear such bliss—its present is the whole; 
I had that present, till in whispers fell 
With parting gesture her subdued farewell. 
—Fean Ingelow. 
| F eceeiaae thrice blessed days! but ah! how short! What strange vicissitudes, in the first leaf 
Bless’d as the pleasing charms of holy men, Of man’s sad history! today most happy; 
But fugitive, like those, and quickly gone. And, ere tomorrow’s sun has set, most abject! 
O slippery state of things! What sudden turns, How scant the space between these vast extremes! 
—Blair, 
HE spider’s most attenuated thread 
Is cord —is cable—to man’s tender tie h 
On earthly bliss; it breaks at every breeze. —Young. é 
pms ; 281 =, 
