TWO HUMBLE FLOWERS. 



N FLORICULTURE as in all else, 

 the tendenc}' seems to be toward 

 that which makes the most show. 

 People need to be educated to know 

 that there is pleasure in little 

 things. Perhaps it was for this, 

 that such flowers as the humble hypoxis were placed 

 among the more pretentious ones in nature's gar- 

 den. It is a plant worthy of notice and even of 

 culti\ ation. I was so much attracted by its cheer- 

 ful little blossoms last spring, that I procured a bulb 

 and transplanted it to my garden, where it bloomed 

 unconcernedly. 



It grows from six to eight inches high, several 

 scapes arising from the same root, each about four- 

 flowered, dividing at top into an umbel with a short 

 peduncle for each golden star. The blossoms have 

 a curious way of opening, the three outer segments 

 opening first, leaving the three inner standing up- 

 right. The former differ somewhat from the latter, 

 being a trifle herbaceous upon the outside, though 

 each division is slightly greenish underneath, and 

 all are of a beautiful golden yellow above. Its six 

 stamens are crowned with pretty arrow-shaped 

 anthers. Its leaves are narrow and grass-like, all 

 radical, somewhat hairy, as are also the slender 

 flower scapes and under portions of the perianth. 



This golden star-grass is a bright little thing, and 

 well worthy a place among early flowering plants. 

 It comes into bloom in May and continues through 

 early summer. As it grows upon moist land, it might 

 be made to brighten some out of the way corner, 

 too damp for ordinary plants. Although such a 

 humble plant, it belongs to the pretentious family 

 of amaryllis. It is known in the botanies as Hypoxis 

 erecta. 



Indian Cucumber Root (Mcdeoia 1'irginica) is an 

 interesting plant found sparingly in this vicinity. 

 The name Medeola is derived from that of the 

 fabled sorceress Media, because it was anciently 

 supposed to possess great medicinal properties, a 

 claim wholly ignored by scientists of the present 

 day. Gronovius received the first of its kind from 

 Virginia, hence its specific name. Its white fleshy 

 rhizome is thought to have something the taste of 

 a cucumber, a fact from which it derives its com- 

 mon name. It belongs to the family of trilliums, 

 and is a most interesting plant. 



It has a simple, slender stem which grows from 



one to two feet high, covered with a loose white 

 substance which resembles wool. About midway 

 it bears a whorl of from six to eight sessile, par- 

 allel-vemed leaves, obovate-lanceolate in form. At 

 the top is another row of only three leaves, ovate, 

 and considerably smaller. In the axil of each is 

 produced a pendulous greenish yellow flower with 

 six recurved segments. The petals and sepals are 



Hypoxis erecta. 



are alike both in form and color. The short anthers 

 are borne upon slender filaments. The most notice- 

 able parts of the flower are the straggling stigihas. 



