FLOWERS OF THE SEASON 155 



ways and habits, their likes and dislikes, lend zest 

 to the familiarity that grows with the years. 



The northern lakes and streams are specially 

 favoured in advancing summer by the Cardinal 

 Lobelia, the brightest and most intensely coloured of 

 all the wild flora, and by the Scented Water Lily, 

 a younger sister of the White Water Lily, familiar 

 on the quiet waters along the lake. The Cardinal 

 Lobelia often shows a glowing spot of colour on a 

 beaver meadow. It can never be mistaken, for no 

 other flower can rival it in intensity and brilliance. 



The nodding flower of the Pitcher-plant seems dull 

 in comparison, and even the brilliant tufts of the 

 Painted-cup, which disappeared earlier in the season, 

 lacked the bright vitality of colour. Along the 

 streams it stands forth as nature's proudest decoration. 

 It arises from the black, boggy earth, standing boldly 

 among the naked branches of a long-fallen Cedar or 

 stretching above the marsh grasses that would veil it 

 from the sun. Often it grows in abundance, making 

 many splashes of scarlet where some narrow stream 

 reaches the dense underbrush about the feet of 

 towering Maples. 



The Scented Water Lily has a fragrance that 

 lingers in the memory and comes back with every 

 thought of the shallow bays in the irregular lakes 

 of the north. These flowers seem diminutive repro- 

 ductions of big white Water Lilies, which the 



