Plants Growing In Mud: Bogs, 
‘Swamps and Marshes. 
Over in the swamps life is gay and free; for why should 
they be dull when they may be merry, or why should they 
throw out sparingly their bloom when their soul tells them to 
send it out abundantly 2? In tts time and place each lovely 
flower unfolds ; the turtle travels slowly back from the nearest 
pond, the blackbirds pipe and the ortole matches the tint of 
his wing with the petals of the marigold. Grave willows 
have a fatherly care of the sweet community, and, although 
King Carnival pass up and down, disorder never reigns. 
SKUNK CABBAGE. 
Spathyema fétida. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Arum. Madder, purple, Disagreeable. Mostly north, sparingly February- 
yellow and green. west and south. April. 
Flowers: inconspicuous; perfect; arranged upon an oval fleshy spadix 
that is enveloped by a spathe. Spathe: shell-shaped, veined with purple. 
fruit: curious looking; the seeds form under the epidermis of the spadix, and 
drop later into the ground, like little bulbs. Zeaves: one to three feet long ; 
ovate; veined ; appearing later than the flowers, from a short rootstock. 
“ Foremost to deck the sun-warmed sod, 
The Arum shows his speckled coil.” 
Dame Nature has truly a warm heart, and when she deprives 
us of one thing she usually bestows another. In her scheme of 
wisdom she certainly saw fit to deprive the skunk cabbage of 
fragrance ; and to such an extent that it has been doomed to 
bear a rather unpoetical name. But it is a brave, powerful 
plant, which pushes itself forward without fear of rebuff from 
the frosts of February, or the biting March winds. Grim win- 
