
PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 257 
of the unsullied newness of its life. It is also a pretty sight in 
June when in fruit. 
A, alnifolia isa smaller shrub of the west which has been 
looked upon asamere variety. ‘The petals are shorter and the 
fruit more rounded than that of the preceding. In fact, the 
several wild species have no very marked differences, and are 
sometimes regarded as one by botanists. 
YELLOW STAR-GRASS. 
Hypoxts hirsuta, 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Amaryllis. Yellow. Scentless. Maine southward and Larly summer. 
westward. 
Flowers : growing singly, or a few in a cluster at the end of a naked scape. 
Perianth : of six narrow divisions, within yeliow, the outside green and slightly 
hairy. Stamens: six. fistil: one. Leaves ; from the base ; sometimes over a 
foot long; linear; grass-like. 
Long ago this plant was called the yellow star of Bethlehem. 
It nestles so cosily among the grasses of the meadows and 
thickets that from afar we connect its bright gleam of colour 
with a fire-fly that has alighted and is fluttering his wings. On 
reaching it we are no less pleased to find the winsome face of 
the yellow star-grass. It is, however, in no sense a grass, but 
quite an orthodox little member of the amaryllis family ; and 
one of the oldest known of American flowers. 
BULBOUS BUTTERCUP. GOLDEN CUPS. (Plate CL.) 
Raninculus bulbosus. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Crowfoot. Yellow. Scentless. Eastern states. May-July. 
Flowers: large ; terminal; cup-shaped. Calyx : reflexed; of five sepals, Co- 
rolla: of five, six, or seven petals. Stamens: numerous. /2rsti/s: several. 
Leaves: much divided; deeply toothed. Stem: herbaceous; erect from a 
round bulb and having an acrid, watery juice. 
“ Heigh-ho! daisies and buttercups, 
Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall, 
When the wind wakes how they rock in the grasses, 
And dance with the cuckoo-buds, slender and small; 
Here’s two bonnie boys and here’s mother’s own lasses, 
Eager to gather them all.”"—JEAN INGELOW. 
