108 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OP FIELD AND GARDEN. 



The flower appears (quite as sooa as the broad, 

 grasslike leaves) in the Carolinas and southward 

 from March to June, according to the locality. It 

 is a relative of the yellow star-grass and the snow- 

 drop. To this family also belong the common Eng- 

 lish daffodil {JV. Pseudo-Ifarcissus), the jonquil {W. 

 jonquilla), and the Narcissi poeticus and polyan- 

 thos ; this last, a variety of tiny flowers in clusters, 

 I have found growing wild in Switzerland near 

 the St. Bernard Pass, in May ; it is the parent of 

 the cultivated variety named N. Ta- 

 setta, or Polyanthus Narcissus. But 

 these are more successful as hot-house 

 plants, although some are quite hardy 

 in gardens south of Boston. 



Milkwort. Milkwort is a com- 



Polygala sanguinea. mou weed whicli gen- 

 erally grows in wet sandy ground and 

 bears pinkish-crimson flowers in a 

 head somewhat similar to clover, but 

 smaller. It grows not more than nine 

 inches high, and is common in Massa- 

 chusetts and in the pine district of 

 New Jersey, in the vicinity of Lake- 

 wood. Its name was derived from 

 two Greek words, meaning much milk ; not that the 

 plants yielded milky juice, but it was thought that 



