232 HOME STUDIES IN NATURE. 



The shrubs of the heath family seem to have in- 

 spired the early botanists with poetic fancy. We find 

 a genus dedicated to Cassiope, and another to her daugh- 

 ter Andromeda. Cassiope, however, belongs wholly to 

 the mountains of the North, but Andromeda and Cas- 

 sandra and Leucothoe skirt the cedars in profusion. 

 The bright, showy pinxter- flower {Azalea nudiflora) 

 also helps to make up the coterie. And now, parting a 

 thick clump of Ilex, we find the beautiful orchid Are- 

 thusa, hid away in the gloom as if guarded by this 

 nymph of night. 



Still we wander on. Ten miles are passed before 

 we come to another locality of Helonias. Again pen- 

 etrating the dense forest, we discover that the plant 

 extends over several acres, and then suddenly ceases. 

 Great clumps of the royal fern (Osmunda r eg alii) are 

 just beginning to unfold their large fronds. Here 

 it attains almost gigantic proportions, the magnificent 

 fronds towering above our heads, six to seven feet in 

 height. 



The origin of Linnaeus's name, Osmunda, seems doubt- , 

 ful. Possibly he intended to dedicate it to the deity 

 which presided over the mischievous spirits of the ele- 

 ments, Osmunder being the Saxon name of Thor. But 

 what there is about this grand regal fern to have sug- 

 gested the idea to dedicate it to the god of thunder is 

 veiled in obscurity. 



In the gloom and deathJike stillness which surround 

 me a mysterious awe steals over my senses, and I am 



