NATIVE WILD FLOWERS 
table. I was assured that death would be the result of my 
experiment; but I was confident in the innocent qualities of 
my fruit-bearing Spinach, and laughed at the prediction that 
I should find death in the pot. 
Nor is the Indian Strawberry the only member of the 
Spinach tribe that is found growing in Canada. We possess 
several others, among these the herbs commonly known by 
the country people as Good King Henry (B. Bonus Henri- 
cus), which has been introduced from Europe, and Lamb’s 
Quarters (Chenopodium album), which plants are still made 
use of as spring vegetables, though not now in such repute 
as formerly. Happily few houses, or even shanties, cannot 
boast of a garden around the dwelling, but many years ago 
it was a rare thing to see even a cabbage-plot fenced in about 
the homestead, and the cultivation of flowers was regarded 
as a piece of useless extravagance, a mark of pride and idle 
vanity. We do not wish those good old times back again! 
The leaves of the Indian Strawberry are thin, long-pointed, 
somewhat halbert-shaped, with shallow indentations at the 
edges. They are of a bright lively green color. In the earlier 
stages of growth, the flowering spikes stand upright, but as 
the fruit ripens they decline, and are bending or entirely 
prostrate, much resembling the drooping Amaranth (called 
Love Lies Bleeding) of our gardens, but more brilliant in 
hue. The berries of the Indian Strawberry are wrinkled on 
the surface and dotted over with purplish-black seeds, which 
lie embedded in the soft fruity pulp of the altered calyx ina 
manner similar to the Strawberry. The fruit begins to ripen 
in July, and continues by a succession of lateral branches to 
bear its red clusters all through August, after which the 
frosts of September cut it off and destroy the beauty of the 
plant. 
137 
