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our own frost-weeds. To the right of this is the violet 

 family; a collection of our native species, together with 

 some from foreign lands, is here brought together and 

 many of these may be recognized as old friends. Near the 

 violet bed is one devoted to the loasa family. Upon the 

 ridge to the right, across the walk, may be found the cactus 

 family; relatively few of these are hardy in this climate, so 

 the larger part of the cactus collection must be sought 

 at conservatory range I, houses 6, 7, and 8. Here may 

 be found, however, several representatives of the prickly 

 pears (Opuntia), including the eastern prickly pear, com- 

 mon in this part of the country, which is frequently found 

 on the rocky ridges in the vicinity of New York and occurs 

 wild on some ledges within the Garden reservation. Down 

 near the brook, and not far from the mallow family, is 

 the loosestrife family, represented by the purple loosestrife, 

 a native of Europe, but introduced in many places in this 

 country; among others belonging to this family is the 

 swamp loosestrife, or willow-herb {Decodon), a clump of 

 which may be found along the brook opposite to the 

 loosestrife bed. But a short distance from the violet 

 family is the evening-primrose family; here may be found 

 a number of the evening primroses {Oenothera), with their 

 showy yellow flowers, noteworthy as the plants mainly 

 experimented with by Professors DeVries and MacDougal 

 in their studies on the origin of species. Along the brook, 

 not far from the loosestrife family, is the water-milfoil 

 family, represented by the Chilean water-milfoil or parrot's- 

 feather, forming a beautiful mass of feathery green on the 

 surface of the water. Returning now to the ridge, a little 

 beyond the violet family, we find the bed allotted to the 

 ginseng family; here are the Indian-root, from eastern 

 North America, and the heart-leaved aralia from Japan. 

 To this family also belongs the ginseng plant, the root of 

 which is so much prized by the Chinese as a medicine. 

 Down the slope from this group may be found two beds 

 given over to the carrot family, which includes many 



