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53 
Ulrakscantta tlirgUUCCl. Natural Order: Commelynacece — Spiderwort Family, 
AMED after John Tradescant, a favorite gardener of Charles I. 
of England, and after his son of the same name, both distin¬ 
guished botanists and travelers, this plant is familiarly known 
as the Spiderwort. It is a common plant, with coarse, grass- 
like leaves, and pretty purple or rose-colored flowers of a 
o delicate texture. It is almost impossible to prepare a perfect 
specimen for the herbarium, as the least pressure discolors and withers 
its petals beyond recognition. The stem when broken discovers a 
viscous juice, that spins out like a spider’s silken thread as the parts 
are separated, thus giving it its common appellation. The Cleome 
pungens has also been sometimes called Spiderwort, or Spiderflower, 
but belongs to the Caper Family, and is a tall, showy, biennial plant. 
The flowers, which bloom in racemes, are separately rather curious in 
structure. The petals are mounted on threadlike claws, and extending 
above them, about twice their length, are the six stamens, like so many 
legs of a spider. Cleome , from the Greek, means something closed; and pungens , 
from the Latin, signifies piercing. 
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B UT I forgot the parting words she said, 
So much they thrilled the all-attentive soul; 
For one short moment human heart and head 
May bear such bliss — its present is the whole; 
I had that present, till in whispers fell 
With parting gesture her subdued farewell. 
— Jean Inge low. 
"OLESSED, thrice blessed days! but ah! how short! 
Bless’d as the pleasing charms of holy men, 
But fugitive, like those, and quickly gone. 
O slippery state of things! What sudden turns, 
What strange vicissitudes, in the first leaf 
Of man’s sad history! today most happy; 
And, ere tomorrow’s sun has set, most abject! 
How scant the space between these vast extremes! 
—Blair. 
'T'HE spider’s most attenuated thread 
A Is cord—is cable — to man’s tender tie 
On earthly bliss; it breaks at every breeze. —Young. 
_ 381 _ 
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