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MEZEREON. 
COQUETRY 

DESIRE TO PLEASE, 
THE stalk of this shrub is covered with a dry 
bark, which gives to it the appearance of dead 
wood. Nature, to hide this deformity, has en- 
circled each of its sprays with a garland of red 
flowers, wreathed round them and terminating 
in a small tuft of leaves, in the manner of the 
pineapple. These flowers, which appear in the 
month of February, give out a peculiar and 
dangerous smell. 
This shrub, clothed in its showy garb, appears 
amidst the snow like an imprudent and coquet- 
tish female, who, though shivering with cold, 
wears her spring attire in the depth of winter. 












