2 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



flower. The Englishman does not need to ask us, 

 " Where are your fragrant flowers ? " John Bur- 

 roughs sajs : " Let liim look closer and penetrate 

 our forests and visit our ponds and lakes. • ■ • Let 

 him compare our matchless, rosy-lipped, honey- 

 hearted, trailing arbutus with his own ugly ground 

 ivy {Nepeta Glechoma).'''' "We can make our own 

 comparison if we choose,' for the ground ivy has be- 

 come naturalized here, and it may be found in shady 

 places creeping and spreading over the waysides ; 

 its flowers are light blue and its leaves kidney- 

 shaped ; it can be seen in Prospect Park, Brook- 

 lyn, in May. But the ground ivy is not to be men- 

 tioned in the same breath with our sweet Mayflow- 

 er. We must pass what the poet Whittier has to 

 say about it for lack of space, and turn our attention 

 to its natural environment. I have found the love- 

 liest blossoms not in Massachusetts, but in a hilly, wet 

 pasture on the southern slopes of the White Moun- 

 tains. Here the largest and pinkest blossoms were 

 gathered among damp moss and withered leaves not 

 two feet away from the remains of a winter's snow- 

 drift ; this was on the 25th of April. It must be re- 

 membered that snowdrifts frequently remain on the 

 southern gorges of the White Hills as late as the mid- 

 dle of May. But the arbutus does not mind the cool 

 breath of a tardy New England spring ; on the con- 



