A BUNCH OF HERBS 



meadows and in marshy, grassy openings 

 in the woods, shooting up a tapering column 

 or cylinder of pink-purple fringed flowers, 

 that one may see at quite a distance, and 

 the perfume of which is too rank for a close 

 room. This flower is, perhaps, like the 

 English fragrant orchis, found in pastures. 

 Few fragrant flowers in the shape of 

 weeds have come to us from the Old World, 

 and this leads me to remark that plants with 

 sweet-scented flowers are, for the most part, 

 more intensely local, more fastidious and 

 idiosyncratic, than those without perfume. 

 Our native thistle — the pasture thistle — 

 has a marked fragrance, and it is much more 

 shy and limited in its range than the com- 

 mon Old World thistle that grows every- 

 where. Our little sweet white violet grows 

 only in wet places, and the Canada violet 

 only in high, cool woods, while the common 

 blue violet is much more general in its dis- 

 tribution. How fastidious and exclusive is 

 the cypripedium ! You will find it in one 

 locality in the woods, usually on high, dry 

 ground, and will look in vain for it else- 

 where. It does not go in herds like the 

 commoner plants, but affects privacy and 

 solitude. When I come upon it in my 

 ^33 



