236 THROUGH GLADE AND MEAD. 
its time of flowering. It well repays cultivation by the 
increase in the size and the number of its flowers. 
What more fitting leader could this list have than 
one of the golden-rods! It may be dusty from growing 
by the roadside, and may be despised as a weed, but its 
kindred will yet brighten all the late summer fields with 
their abundance of yellow. 
Five species of Hypericum have already come and 
gone, or are still lingering as if waiting for their young- 
est species, Canadense. Close behind is a Lobelia, the 
species zzféata, the last of its genus, the delicate spicata 
and the bold cardiualis having just preceded it. The 
little skull cap is seen where marsh plants abound, and 
is easily recognized by its small blue flowers arranged 
in pairs along the stem. Where the pond has retreated 
from the shore, leaving to the sun to warm and vivify 
the muddy margin, the little hedge-hyssop may often be 
found lifting its golden-yellow head among the grasses 
and sedges there disputing the supremacy. 
The orchid family has been well represented hith- 
erto, and sends three representatives to the present list. 
They are of no mean rank, the delicate ladies’ tresses, 
the more showy Goodyera with its white-streaked leaves 
nestling in clusters close to the ground yet raising a 
spike of white flowers to please the eyes of the finder, 
and the smaller purple-fringed orchis, which, when once 
seen, is not easily forgotten. 
