126 DAYS OUT OF DOORS. 



Except for this, the plant is oh ! so very innocent in ap- 

 pearance — I have seen human sun-dews — and scarcely 

 more prominent than now, when its dainty pink blossoms 

 appear ; but all this is but a part of a deep-laid scheme, 

 for it depends upon animal food for its own existence, 

 and destroys and devours millions of minute flies, and, 

 indeed, many of a larger growth. 



I found also, but not just here, another species with 

 broad and almost circular leaves, and it too was carnivor- 

 ous as a cat. 



Still on, deeper into the forest, or rather forest site, 

 and soon the lambkill gave way to another, more stately 

 and scarcely less beautiful growth. The ground was now 

 more damp, the trees more vigorous, and all other under- 

 growth was replaced by the exquisite Leucothoe. These 

 bushes were laden with white, waxy balls that charged 

 the air with the odor of vanilla. One cluster that I 

 picked had twenty-two flowers on a single stem, in an 

 unbroken row and just free of actual contact. It meas- 

 ured exactly six inches in length. As I held the stem in 

 a horizontal position, I was not much surprised that locally 

 the plant is known by the terrible name of " false teeth." 

 My only cause for wonderment is, that the more refined ele- 

 ment of the community should not have replaced it with 

 something both appropriate and pleasant ; especially, as 

 the botanical name has nothing to commend it. 



The limit of my ramble was a denuded tract of liter- 

 ally barren sand, where probably not a dozen species of 

 plants grew, and all were inconspicuous but one. For the 

 first time I say in full bloom the — buzzard weed ! No, 

 the turkey beard ! Is it not strange that more than a 

 century should pass, and these plants familiar the while 

 to intelligent, flower-loving people, and yet they should 

 not have rescued them from the jargon of those outer 

 barbarians, the charcoal-burners ? Professional botanists, 



