Gray. 
Nat. Ord. Sorophtjlaria. 
Scarlet tufts 
Are glowing in tire green like flakes of fire ; 
The wanderers of the prairie know them well, 
And call that brilliant flower the Painted Cup. 
Bryant. 
f ’S splendidly-coloured plant is the glory and ornament of 
the plain-lands of Canada. The whole plant is a glow 
of scarlet, varying from pale flame-colour to the most 
vivid vermillion, rivalling in brilliancy of hues the scarlet 
geranium of the greenhouse. 
The Painted Cup owes its gay appearance not to its flowers, 
which are not very conspicuous at a distance, but to the deeply- 
cut leafy tracts that enclose them and clothe the stalks, forming 
at the ends of the flower branches clustered rosettes. (See our 
artist’s plate.) 
The flower is a flattened tube, bordered with bright red, 
and edged with golden yellow. Stamens, four ; pistil, one, pro¬ 
jecting beyond the tube of the calix; the capsule is many seeded. 
The radical or root leaves are of a dull, hoary green, tinged with 
reddish purple, as also is the stem, which is rough, hairy, and 
