Part 3

These flowers are, for the most part, found in rich woods, some in low wet ground, but a few prefer the drier soil of piny forests, and one of the finest and most fragrant of the species grows freely on grassy uplands, the larger flowered _P. rotundifolia_ (round-leaved Pyrola).

The exquisitely beautiful evergreen plant known by Canadian settlers as _Prince’s Pine_ is a member of the family of Pyrola. From root to summit this plant is altogether lovely. The leaves are dark, shining and smooth, evergreen and finely serrated; the stem of a bright rosy-red; the delicately pink-tinted flowers look as if moulded from wax; the anthers are of a bright amethyst-purple, set round the emerald-green turbinated stigma. The flowers are not many, but form a loose corymb springing from the centre of the shining green leaves. There is scarcely a more attractive native plant than the _Chimaphila umbellata_ in our Canadian flora.

The leaves of this beautiful Wintergreen are held in high estimation by Indian herbalists who call it RHEUMATISM WEED, (_Pipissewa_). It is bitter and aromatic in quality.

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NAT. ORD. ERICACEÆ.—SUB. ORD. PYROLEÆ.

ONE FLOWERED PYROLA. _Moneses uniflora._

THIS exquisitely scented flower is only found in the shade of the forest, in rich black leaf mould, where, like _P. elliptica_, it forms considerable beds; it is of evergreen habit. The leaves are of a dark green and smooth surface, clustered at the base of the running root-stalk and sending up from the centre one simple scape, bearing a gracefully nodding flower; each milk-white petal is elegantly scalloped; the stamens, 8 to 10, are set close to the base of the petal; the anthers are of a bright purple amethyst colour; the style straight, with five radiating points at the extremity forming a perfect mural crown in shape: it is of a bright green and much exceeds in length the stamen.

The scent of the flower is very fine, resembling in richness that of the hyacinthe. This species is not common. There is another variety of the single-flowered Pyrola that is of more frequent occurrence in our woods. The flower is of a greenish white, the anthers of a brownish fawn colour, the whole height of the plant scarcely exceeding four or five inches, and the scent is less fragrant than that of the pure white single Pyrola (_Moneses uniflora_).

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NAT. ORD. ROSACEÆ.

FLOWERING RASPBERRY. _Rubus Odoratus._

IN English gardens our beautiful Red-Flowered, Sweet-Scented Raspberry is deemed worthy of a place in the shrubberies, but in its native country it is passed by because it is not an exotic, and therefore regarded as of little worth.—Like a prophet it has no honour in its own country.—Yet what can be more lovely than its rose-shaped blossoms, from the deep purplish-crimson bud wrapped in its odorous mossy calyx, to the unfolded flower of various shades of deep rose and paler reddish lilac. The flowers of the Red Raspberry derive their pleasant aromatic odour from the closely-set coating of short bristly glandular hairs, each one of which is tipped with a gland of reddish hue, containing a sweet-scented gum, as in the mossy envelope of the moss-rose of the garden. These appendages, seen by the aid of a powerful microscope, are objects of exquisite beauty, more admirable than rubies and diamonds, living gems that fill us with wonder while we gaze into their marvellous parts and glorious colours.

All through the hot months of June, July and August, a succession of flowers are put forth at the ends of the branches and branchlets of our Sweet Raspberry—

“An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds.”

The shrub is from two to five feet in height, branching from the woody perennial root-stock; the leaves are from three to five lobed, the lobes pointed and roughly toothed. The leaves are of a dullish green, varying in size from several inches in length, to mere bracts. The blossoms are often as large as those of the sweet-briar and dog-rose, but when first unfolded more compact and cup like. The fruit consists of many small red grains arranged in the form of an inverted saucer on the receptacle, and is somewhat dry and acid, more tempting to the eye than the palate, but not injurious in any degree. The shrub is more attractive for its flowers than its insipid fruit. We have indeed few that are more ornamental among our native plants than the RUBUS ODORATUS. Canada cannot boast of the Rhododendrons and Azaleas that adorn the Western and Northern States, but she possesses many attractive shrubs that are but little known, which flourish year after year on the lonely shores of our inland lakes and marshy beaver meadows, Ledums and Kalmias, with many a fair flower that withers unnoticed and uncared for in its solitary native haunts.

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VERONICA.—NAT. ORD. SCROPHULARIACEÆ.

SPEEDWELL. (AMERICAN BROOKLIME.) _Veronica Americana._

“Flowers spring up and die ungathered.”

IN the language of flowers the blossoms of the Veronica or Speedwell are said to mean undying love, or constancy, but the blossoms of the Speedwell are fugacious, falling quickly, and therefore, one would say, not a good emblem of endurance.

Sweet simple flowers are the wild Veronicas, chiefly inhabiting damp overflowed ground, the borders of weedy ponds and brooks, from whence the names of “Brooklime” and “Marsh Speedwell,” “Water Speedwell,” and the like. Some of the species are indeed found mostly growing on dry hills and grassy banks, cheering the eye of the passing traveller by its slender spikes of azure flowers, and this is often known by the pretty name of Forget-me-not, though it is not the true “Forget-me-not,” which is _Myosotis palustris_, also called “SCORPION-GRASS;” the derivation of which last name we should find it difficult to trace.

The subject of the elegant little flower on the right hand side of the plate is _Veronica Americana_—“AMERICAN BROOKLIME”—one of the prettiest of the native Veronicas, and may easily be recognized by its branching spikes of blue flowers, and veiny, partially heart-shaped leaves.

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1 CYPRIPEDIUM PARVIFLORUM (Smaller Lady’s Slipper)

2 CYPRIPEDIUM PUBESCENS (Larger yellow Lady’s Slipper)

3 IRIS VERSICOLOR (Larger blue Flag)

4 VACCINIUM OXYCOCCUS (Small Cranberry)

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NAT. ORD. ORCHIDACEÆ.

YELLOW LADY’S SLIPPERS. _Cypripedium parviflorum and Cypripedium pubescens._

“And golden slippers meet for Fairies’ feet.”

THIS ornamental family are remarkable alike for the singular beauty of their flowers, and the peculiar arrangement of the internal organs. In the Linnæan classification they were included in common, with all the Orchis tribe, in the class Gynandria, but in the Natural Order of Jussieu, which we have followed, the “Lady’s Slipper” (_Cypripedium_), forms one of the sub-orders in the general Order ORCHIDACEÆ.

Of the two species represented in our Artist’s group, the larger and central flower is _Cypripedium pubescens_, the smaller, _C. parviflorum_, or LESSER LADY’S SLIPPER. The latter is, perhaps, the more elegant and graceful plant, and is also somewhat fragrant. The sepals and petals are longer and more spiral, but the colouring of the lip is not so rich and vivid as in the larger flower, _C. pubescens_.

The small flowered plant affects a moist soil, such as low wet meadows and open swampy woods; while the larger species, better known by its more familiar name Moccasin flower, loves the open woodlands and drier plains; where, in the month of June, it may be seen beside the gay Painted Cup (_Castilleia coccinea_), the Blue Lupine (_L. perennis_), the larger White Trillium, and other lovely wild flowers, forming a charming contrast to their various colours and no less varied forms.

The stem of the larger Moccasin flower is thick and leafy, each bright green, many-nerved leaf sheathing the flowers before they open. The flowers are from one to three in number; bent forward; drooping gracefully downwards. The golden sac-like lip is elegantly striped and spotted with ruby red; the twisted narrow petals, and sepals, two in number of each kind, are of a pale fawn colour, sometimes veined and lined with a deeper shade. Like many others of the genus, the organs of the flower assume a singular and grotesque resemblance to the face of some animal. On lifting up the fleshy petal-like middle lobe which protects the stamens and pistil, the face of an Indian hound may be imagined; the stamens, which are two in number, situated one on either side of the sterile depressed central lobe, when the flower is mature, turn of a deep brown, and resemble two round eyes; the blunt stigma takes the form of the nose, while the sepals look like ears. There is something positively comical in the appearance of the ape-like face of _C. spectabile_, the beautiful showy Lady’s Slipper, the description of which will be found to face the plate in which it forms a prominent feature.

The most beautiful of all the species is the “Stemless Lady’s Slipper,” _Cypripedium acaule_, of which we will treat at some future time. It bears removal to the garden if planted in a suitable situation; but all these native flowers require attention to their peculiar habits and soil, or they will disappoint the expectation of the cultivator and end in failure. All wild flowers transplanted from the woods require shade, and bog plants both moisture and shade.

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NAT. ORD. IRIDACEÆ.

LARGE BLUE FLAG. _Iris Versicolor._ _Fleur-de-luce._

Lilies of all kinds, The fleur-de-luce being one. WINTER’S TALE.

THIS beautiful flower, the blue Iris, which forms the right hand figure in the group of Moccasin flowers, abounds all through Canada, and forms one of the ornaments of our low sandy flats, marshy meadows and over-flowed lake shores; it delights in wet muddy soil, and often forms large clumps of verdure in half-dried up ponds and similar localities. Early in spring, as soon as the sun has warmed the waters after the melting of the ice, the sharp sword-shaped leaves escaping from the sheltering sheath that enfolded them, pierce the moist ground, and appear, forming beds of brilliant verdure, concealing the swampy soil and pools of stagnant water below. Late in the month of June the bursting buds of rich purple begin to unfold, peeping through the spathe that envelopes them. A few days of sunshine, and the graceful petals, so soft and silken in texture, so variable in shades of colour, unfold: the three outer ones reflexed, droop gracefully downwards, while the three innermost, which are of paler tint, sharper and stiffer, stand erect and conceal the stamens and petal-like stigmas, which lie behind them: an arrangement so suitable for the preservation of the fructifying organs of the flower, that we cannot fail to behold in it the wisdom of the great Creator. The structure of the cellular tissue in most water plants, and the smooth oily surface of their leaves, has also been provided as a means of throwing off the moisture to which their place of growth must necessarily expose them; but for this wise provision, which keeps the surface dry though surrounded with water, the plants would become overcharged with moisture and rot and decay too rapidly to perfect the ripening of their seeds—a process often carried on at the bottom of streams and lakes, as in the case of the Pond-lily and other aquatics. Our blue Iris, however, does not follow this rule, being only partly an aquatic, but stands erect and ripens the large bony, three-sided seeds in a three-sided membraneous pod. The hard seeds of the _Iris versicolor_ have been roasted and used as a substitute for coffee. The root, which is creeping, fleshy and tuberous, is possessed of medicinal qualities.

At present we know of only two varieties of the Iris, _Iris versicolor_, and a tall slender variety with paler blue flowers and rounder scapes. The former is the handsomer flower, being beautifully varied with lighter and darker shades of blue, purple and yellow—the latter shade being at the base of the flower leaves. These are again veined with delicate lines and veinings of darker purple.

The name IRIS, as applied to this genus, was bestowed upon it by the ancient Greeks, ever remarkable for their appreciation of the beautiful, on account of the rainbow tinted hues displayed in the flowers of many of the species; especially are the prismatic colours shown in the flowers of the large pearly white garden Iris, a plant of Eastern origin, and also in the Persian or Susian Iris.

The Fleur-de-lis, as it was formerly written, signified whiteness or purity. This was changed to Fleur-de-luce, a corruption of Fleur-de-Louis. The blossoms of the plant having been selected by Louis the Seventh of France as his heraldic bearing in the Holy Wars. The flowers of the Iris have ever been favourites with the poet, the architect, and sculptor, as many a fair specimen wrought in stone and marble, or carved in wood, can testify.

The Fleur-de-lis is still the emblem of France.

Longfellow’s stanzas to the Iris are very characteristic of that graceful flower:

Beautiful lily—dwelling by still river, Or solitary mere, Or where the sluggish meadow brook delivers Its waters to the weir.

The wind blows, and uplifts thy drooping banner, And around thee throng and run The rushes, the green yeomen of thy manor— The outlaws of the sun.

O fleur-de-luce, bloom on, and let the river Linger to kiss thy feet; O flower of song, bloom on, and make forever The world more fair and sweet.

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NAT. ORD. ERICACEÆ.

SMALL CRANBERRY. _Vaccinium Oxycoccus._

There’s not a flower but shews some touch In freckle, freck or stain, Of His unrivalled pencil. HEMANS.

THERE is scarcely to be found a lovelier little plant than the common marsh Cranberry. It is of a trailing habit, creeping along the ground, rooting at every joint, and sending up little leafy upright stems, from which spring long slender thready pedicels, each terminated by a delicate peach-blossom tinted flower, nodding on the stalk, so as to throw the narrow pointed petals upward. The leaves are small, of a dark myrtle-green, revolute at the edges, whitish beneath, unequally distributed along the stem. The deep crimson smooth oval berries are collected by the squaws and sold at a high price in the fall of the year.

There are extensive tracts of low, sandy swampy flats in various portions of Canada, covered with a luxuriant growth of low Cranberries. These spots are known as _Cranberry Marshes_; these places are generally overflowed during the spring; many interesting and rare plants are found in these marshes, with mosses and lichens not to be found elsewhere, low evergreens of the heath family, and some rare plants belonging to the Orchidaceous tribes, such as the beautiful Grass-pink (_Calopogon pulchellus_), and _Calypso borealis_.

Not only is the fruit of the low Cranberry in great esteem for tarts and preserves, but it is also considered to possess valuable medicinal properties, having been long used in cancerous affections as an outward application—the berries in their uncooked state are acid and powerfully astringent.

This fruit is successively cultivated for market in many parts of the Northern States of America, and is said to repay the cost of culture in a very profitable manner.

So much in request as Cranberries are for household use, it seems strange that no enterprising person has yet undertaken to supply the markets of Canada. In suitable soil the crop could hardly prove a failure, with care and attention to the selection of the plants at a proper season.

The Cranberry forms one of the sub-orders of the heath family (Ericaceæ), and its delicate pink-tinted flowers are not less beautiful than many of the exotic plants of that tribe, which we rear with care and pains in the green-house and conservatory; yet, growing in our midst as it were, few persons that luxuriate in the rich preserve that is made from the ripe fruit, have ever seen the elegant trailing-plant, with its graceful blossoms and myrtle-like foliage.

The botanical name is of Greek origin, from _oxus_, sour, and _coccus_, a berry. The plant thrives best in wet sandy soil and low mossy marshes.

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1 LILIUM PHILADELPHICUM (Wild orange Red lily)

2 CAMPANULA ROTUNDIFOLIA (Harebell)

3 CYPRIPEDIUM SPECTABILE (Showy Lady’s Slipper)

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NAT. ORD. LILIACEÆ.—(GRAY.)

WILD ORANGE LILY. _Lilium Philadelphicum._

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

THE word Lily is derived from the Celtic, _li_, which signifies whiteness; also from the Greek, _lirion_. Probably the stately Lily of the garden, _Lilium candidum_, was the flower to which the name was first given, from its ivory whiteness and the exquisite polish of its petals. However that may be, the name LILY is ever associated in our minds with grace and purity, and reminds us of the Saviour of men, who spake of the lilies of the field, how they grew and nourished beneath the care of Him who clothed them in robes of beauty more gorgeous than the kingly garments of Royal Solomon.

Sir James Smith, one of the most celebrated of English botanists, suggests that the lilies alluded to by our Lord may have been _Amarylis latea_, or the Golden Lily of Palestine—the bright yellow blossoms of a plant which abounds in the fields of Judea, and at that moment probably caught his eye; their glowing colour aptly illustrating the subject on which he was about to speak.

The Lily has a wide geographical range, and may be found in some form in every clime.

There are Lilies that bloom within the cold influence of the frigid zone, as well as the more brilliant species that glow beneath the blazing suns of the equator in Africa and Southern Asia.

Dr. Richardson mentions, in his list of Arctic plants, _Lilium Philadelphicum_, our own gorgeous orange (or rather scarlet-spotted Lily). He remarks that it is called by the Esquimaux “MOUSE-ROOT,” from the fact that it is much sought after by the field mice, which feed upon the root. The porcupine also digs for it in the sandy soil in which it delights to grow.

In Kamtschatka the _Lilium pomponium_ is used by the natives as an article of food; and in Muscovy the white Narcissus is roasted as a substitute for bread.

The healing qualities of the large white Lily roots and leaves are well known, applied in the form of a poultice to sores and boils. Thus are beauty and usefulness united in this most attractive plant.

The subject of our artist’s pencil, the ORANGE LILY, is widely spread over this portion of the American continent, as well as in the more sunny Western States of North America.

We find it, however, more frequently growing on open plain-lands, where the soil is sandy loam. In partially shaded grassy thickets in oak-openings, in the months of June and July, it may be seen mixed with the azure blue Lupine (_Lupinus perennis_), the golden flowered Moccasin (_Cypripedium pubescens_), _Pyrola rotundifolia_ the large sweet-scented Wintergreen, and other charming summer flowers. Among these our gay and gorgeous Lily stands conspicuous.

The stem is from 1½ to 2 feet high. The leaves are narrow-pointed; of a dark green colour, growing in whorls at intervals round the stem. The flowers are from 1-3; large open bells, of a rich orange-scarlet within, spotted with purplish-brown or black. The outer surface of the petals is pale orange; anthers six, on long filaments; pollen of a brick red, or brown colour; stigma three cleft. The Lily belongs to the artificial class and order, _Hexandria monogynia_.

Many flowers increase in beauty of colour and size under cultivation in our gardens, but our glorious Lily can hardly be seen to greater advantage than when growing wild on the open plains and prairies, under the bright skies of its native wilderness.

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NAT. ORD. CAMPANULACEÆ.

CANADIAN HAREBELL. _Campanula Rotundifolia._

“With drooping bells, of purest blue Thou didst attract my childish view, Almost resembling The azure butterflies that flew, Where ’mid the heath thy blossoms grew, So lightly trembling.”

THE same charming writer has also called the Harebell “the Flower of Memory,” and truly the sight of these fair flowers, when found in lonely spots in Canada, has carried one back in thought to the wild heathery moors or sylvan lanes of the mother country.

“I think upon the heathery hills I ae hae lo’ed sae dearly; I think upon the wimpling burn That wandered by sae clearly.”

But sylvan wooded lanes, and heathery moorlands are not characters of our Canadian scenery, and if we would seek the Harebell, we shall find it on the dry gravelly banks of lakes or rivers, or rocky islets, for these are its native haunts.

Although, in colour and shape of the blossom, the Canadian flower resembles the British one, it is more robust in its growth, less fragile—the flower stems being stouter, and the foot-stalk or pedicel stiffer and less pendulous, and yet sufficiently graceful. The root leaves, which are not very conspicuous during its flowering season, are round, heart-shaped. Those of the flower-stem are numerous, narrow and pointed. This pretty flower is variable in colour and foliage. Its general flowering season is July and August.

The corolla is bell-shaped or campanulate; 5 cleft; calyx lobes, awl shaped, persistent on the seed vessel; stamens 5, style 1, stigmas 2; seed vessel several celled and many seeded; in height the plant varies from a few inches to a foot; number of flowers varying from a few to many.

We have but three known species in Canada, _Campanula Americana_, “a large handsome species being found in Western Canada;”[5] and _C. aparinoides_. The rough-leaved Bellflower is found in marshes and in thickets where the soil is poor but the atmosphere moist; it is of a climbing or rather clinging habit; the weak slender stem, many branched, laying hold of the grasses and low shrubs that surround it for support, which its rough teeth enable it to do very effectually; in habit it resembles the smaller Galium, or Lady’s bedstraw. The delicate bell-shaped flowers are marked with fine purple lines within, at the base of the white corolla. The leaves of this species are narrow-linear, rough, with minutely-toothed hairs; the flowers are few, and fade very quickly. The name campanula is from _campana_, a bell.

The Harebell has often formed the theme of our modern poets, as illustrative of grace and lightness. In the Lady of the Lake we have this pretty couplet when describing Ellen:

“E’en the light Harebell raised its head, Elastic from her airy tread.”