July and August Flowers. 251 



rate plant, with ternate leaves. The flowers are pretty, in a 

 long, terminal panicle, of a purple color. D. Canadense is also 

 a handsome plant, and is very apt to make the acquaintance 

 of the rambler, by means of its pods, which are jointed, like 

 those of all the species, and adhere to his clothes. July and 

 August are, indeed, the especial season for the Leguminosae; 

 and various genera, as Lathyrus, Vicia, Baptisia, Astragalus, 

 Cassia, Crotalaria, embellish the woods and fields at this time. 



Now the ponds, where that splendid plant grows, are whke 

 with the fragrant flowers of the White Pond Lily, Nymphcea 

 odorata, so appositely named after the water-fairies. Ah ! 

 in what profusion it lines the shores of a certain blue lake 

 which we wot of ; and how insufficient has been even the ex- 

 citement, so well understood by the angler, of hooking, play- 

 ing and capturing those noble pike with which its depths 

 abound, to withdraw our admiration from the glossy leaves, 

 and glorious flowers of this queen of the waters ; and what a 

 picture did our fine five or six-pounders make, decorated, (we 

 confess the profanation,) with those white petals, so contrasted 

 with their swelling, dark green sides ! In this lake, the vulgar 

 yarvenu, relative of the Nymphaea, Nuphar advena by name, 

 does not grow ; though its yellow flowers may often, in less 

 deep and pure waters, be found at this season. 



The curious little Drosera, Sundew, is now in flower, and 

 we have observed the unfailing drops at the tips of its glandu- 

 lar hairs, during all this dry and hot weather. The Hypericums 

 and the Lysimachias, are now among the most common plants 

 in flower, and one of the latter, L. quadrifolia, is remarkable 

 for the perfect symmetry of its whorls of leaves and blossoms. 

 Now the Umbelliferae are beginning to flower, and some of 

 them are already in full bloom. Very few of these are inter- 

 esting to the lover of floral beauty, their flowers being small, 

 and of no brilliant colors, and their properties being often of 

 the most dangerous nature. Every body ought to know the 

 villainous Hemlock, Cicuta maculata, so as to avoid it as one 

 would a murderer. It may easily be recognised by its tall, 

 smooth, hollow, spotted stem, somewhat suggestive of a sleek, 

 venomous snake, and its large umbels of white flowers. The 

 mbels have no general involucre, and the partial umbels have 



