Part 8

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.