THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



45 



make a flower. In the same way they disfigure the Annunci- 

 ation Hly by removing the stamens lest the golden pollen, for- 

 sooth, should stain the white perianth. I think every botanist 

 must shudder to see this deformation. 



Perhaps the very tallest of all our wild weeds is the wild 

 lettuce (Lacfuca Cajiadcjisis) . Its growth in one season is phe- 

 nomenal. This, and the extreme variability of its leaves, make 

 it very interesting. I never see one of these big fellows over- 

 topping me but I hurriedly doff my little hat ! 



Hawkweeds, thistles, Mayweeds — where shall we stop 

 with the Compositae? But after all they do not comprise the 

 entire August flora. As beautiful as anything in the month is 

 the old man's beard, Virgin's bower or Virginian clematis — 

 accent, please, on the first syllable. With what abandon it 

 flings itself over the copses, a perfect wealth of bloom, a wreath 

 for a bride. The sacriligious, who may pull whole yards of 

 loveliness, think nothing of their vandalism. If left unplucked 

 it later feathers out into the well-known winter ornament. 



Gaze up yonder brook. A\diat a surprise is there ! A bit 

 of the tropics, surely ! \\diat significant color ! There is a con- 

 clave of cardinals, the very princes of the Church. Nature had 

 a full charged palette when she painted these flowers. 



