3. "'Twas midnight; through the lattice, wreathed With woodbine, many a perfume breathed Their odor to themselves all day; To every breeze that roams about." 4. A twining evergreen plant, improperly called jessamine, grows abundantly in the Southern States south of Richmond, Virginia, spreading over the hedges, and, in still more southern latitudes, hanging in graceful festoons from the tallest trees. It is said that children are frequently poisoned by chewing its pretty yellow flowers. This is the gelsémium, and has five stamens, by which it may be known from the true jessamine, which has only two. 5. The honeysuckle or woodbine family embraces over two hundred species of mostly twining plants, valuable in the flower garden, shrubbery, and against walls and over arbors. The honeysuckle, "which is fair as fragrant," is so much cultivated that it has almost become a domestic in every household. 6. "See the honeysuckle twine Round the casement: 'tis a shrine All things beauteous-all things sweet." 7. It was said, in an ancient fable, that this feeble plant, rapidly shooting into the air, aimed to overtop the oak, the king of the forest; but, as if its efforts were unavailing, it soon recoiled, and with graceful negligence adorned its friendly supporter with elegant festoons and perfumed garlands. In this same family are included the elder, snowberry, and snowball-the latter being known by some as the Guelder-rose. Thus that popular writer, Miss Landon, alludes to its blos soms as "The balls that hang like drifted snow 8. What is known as the swamp honeysuckle in the United States is a species of azalea, which belongs to the numerous and eminently beautiful family of the HEATHS. The low shrubby heaths, which form one division of this family, are alike the glory of Southern Africa, and of Scottish plains and hill-sides; and their culture and propagation are now considered, in England, one of the most delicate and delightful branches of the art of gardening. In a second division of the heath H [HEATH FAMILY.-EXOGENOUS or DIOCOTYLEDONOUS; Angiosperms; Monopetalous.] 1. Eri'ca tet'ralix, Cross-leaved heath, viii. 1, pk., 1 f., Jn.-Au., Scotland. 2. Eri'ca cilia'ris, Ciliated heath, viii. 1, pu., 1 f., Jl.-S., Portugal. 3. Eri'ca cruen'ta, Bloodyflowered heath, viii. 1, dark red, 2 f., My.-S., S. Africa. 4. Eri'ca fascicula'ris, Clusterflowered heath, viii. 1, pu., 18 in., F.-Jn., S. Africa. 5. Eri'ca ar'dens, Glowing heath, viii. 1, sc., 2 f., A.-Jn., S. Africa. 6. Vaccin'ium resino'sum, Black whortleberry, x. 1, gr., r., and y., 4 f., My.-Jn., N. Am. 7. Gaulthe'ria procum'bens, Spicy wintergreen, x. 1, w., 6 in., Jl.-S., N. Am. 8. Azalea nudiflo'ra, Swamp honeysuckle, v. 1, pk., 4 f., My.-Jn., N. Am. 9. Kal'mia latifo'lia, Broad-leaved laurel, x. 1, w. and r., 8 f., My.-J., N. Am. 10. Kal'mia angustifo'lia, Sheep laurel, x. 1, r., 5 f., My.-J., N. Am. family we find the lowly trailing arbutus and wintergreen; a third division is famous for the plants which produce our cranberries and whortleberries;2 while a fourth embraces those native kalmias and rhododendrons* of American forests, which have latterly become the pride of European gardens. It is a species of the rhododendron which Emerson describes in the following lines under the name of rhodōra: *The Rhododendron maximum, or American Rose Bay-tree (x. 1, 20 f., rose-colored flowers), is an evergreen tree, although it renews its leaves once in two or three years. It flowers from May to August, and is found from Long Island to Florida, generally on the borders of rivers or creeks; and on the sides of mountain torrents in Virginia it is so abundant as to form impenetrable thickets. The Kalmias, sometimes called Laurels in America, are not the true Laurels. The Kal'mia latifolia, or Calico bush, which is found on barren hills from the Carolinas to New York, is an elegant shrub, but of noxious qualities-poisonous to cattle and sheep. 9. 10. "In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, Made the black waters with their beauty gay; This charm is wasted on the marsh and sky', Why thou wert there, oh rival of the rose'! I never thought to ask, I never knew; But in my simple ignorance suppose The self-same Power that brought me there', brought you." 11. In Scotland the poorer people cover their cabins with heath, and the hardy Highlanders often make their beds of it; hence frequent allusions to these facts occur in Scottish poetry. In Scott's Lady of the Lake, Ellen, the maid of the Highlands, thus addresses the errant3 Fitz James: "Nor think you unexpected come To yon lone isle, our desert home; and when the stranger was hospitably introduced to her father's hall, it was through the porch to which "Wither'd heath and rushes dry Supplied a russet canopy;" and further, the poet, still drawing a faithful picture of Highland life, tells us that, after every courteous rite had been paid, "The stranger's bed Was there of mountain heather spread, 1 Written both JAS'-MINE and JES'-SA-MINE; 2 WHOR'-TLE-BER-RY (hwur'-tl-běr-e). THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FLOWERS. The psychology1 of flowers has found many students, than whom not one read them more deeply than that mild spirit (Shelley) who sang of the sensitive plant, and in wondrous music foreshadowed his own misdirected genius and his melancholy fate. That martyr to sensibility, Keats, who longed to feel the flowers growing above him, drew the strong inspiration of his volant muse from those delicate creations which exhibit the passage of inorganic matter into life; and other poets will have their sensibilities awakened by the aesthetics3 of flowers, and find a mirror of truth in the crystal dew-drop which clings so lovingly to the purple violet.-HUNT's Poetry of Science. 1 PSY-CHŎL'-O-Ġx, the doctrine of the mind 3 Es-THET'-ICS, the science which treats of or soul, as distinct from the body. the beautiful; the philosophy of the fine arts. 2 VŌ'-LÅNT, "flying;" active; airy. LES. XII.-LABIATE AND TRUMPET-FLOWER FAMILIES. [EXOGENOUS OF DICOTYLEDONOUS; Angiosperms; Monopetalous.]1 1. Eccremocarpus longiflo'rus, Long-flowered eccremocarpus, xiii. 2, or., 6 f., Jl.-Au., Peru. 2. Chelo'ne centranthifo'lia, California trumpet-flower, xiii. 2, sc., 7 f., Jl.-Au., Cal. 3. Bigno'nia grandiflo'ra, Large bignonia, xiii. 2, or., 30-100 f. (cultivated), Jl.-Au., 4. Bigno'nia echina'ta, xiii. 2, pk., 30 f., Guiana. 5. Catal'pa cordifo'lia, Common catalpa, ii. 1, w. and y., 20 f., Jn.-Au., N. Am. 6. Sal'via ful'gens, Scarlet salvia, ii. 1, sc., 5 f., Au.-O., Mexico. 7. Lavan'dula sto'chas, French lavender, xiii. 1, li., 18 in. My.Jl., S. Europe. 8. Maru'bium vulga're, Common horehound, xiii. 1, w., 2 f., Jn.-S., N. Am. 9. Thy'mus serpyllum, Wild thyme, xiii. 1, pu., 3 in., Jn.-Au., Europe. 10. Thy'mus vulga'ris, Garden thyme, xiii. 1, pu., 12 in., My.-Au., cultivated, 1. THE plants of the Labiate family, which number nearly twenty-four hundred species, are easily distinguished by the labiate or lip-like form of their monopetalous1 corollas. Natives, chiefly, of temperate regions, they are found in abundance in hot, dry, exposed situations, in meadows, groves, and by the wayside, and but seldom in marshes. They are, for the most part, fragrant and aromatic;2 some, as the sage, hyssop, thyme,3 and savory, are valuable as kitchen herbs, for sauces, and flavoring cooked dishes; some, like the mints, lavenders, and rosema ry, are employed by perfumers; others, like the exotic salvias, are admired and extensively cultivated for their beauty. 2. Many of the plants of this family were formerly deemed valuable as medicines, and frequent allusions to their medicinal virtues are made by the poets. Thus rosemary was formerly recommended for diseases of the nervous system, for the removal of headaches, and also for strengthening the memory. Hence the allusion of Shakspeare, "There's rosemary: that's for remembrance." With the Greeks, the plant thyme was the emblem of activity, doubtless because its honeyed fragrance made it a favorite with all the cheerful, busy little tenants of the air, who are continually on the wing around it, making the most of the brief time allotted to their ephemeral existence. 3. The Trumpet-flower family, which consists of trees, shrubs, or occasionally herbs, often twining or climbing, most abounds in tropical regions; but native species are found in our country as far northward as Pennsylvania; and others, like the catalpa-tree, and the bignonias, are cultivated still farther north. The various species are most celebrated for the great beauty of their trumpet-shaped flowers, which, from their large size, gay colors, and great abundance, are often among the most striking objects in a tropical forest. 1 MON-O-PET'-AL-OUS, having a corolla of a 2 AR-O-MĂT'-I¤, spicy; strong-scented. LESSON XIII.-FOREST TREES. 1. I AM fond of listening to the conversation of English gentlemen on rural concerns, and of noticing with what taste and discrimination, and with what strong, unaffected interest, they will discuss topics which, in other countries, are abandoned to mere woodmen or rustic cultivators. I have heard a noble earl descant1 on park and forest scenery with the science and feeling of a painter. He dwelt on the shape and beauty of particular trees on his estate with as much pride and technical precision as though he had been discussing the merits of statues in his collection. I found that he had gone considerable distances to examine trees which were celebrated among rural amateurs ;2 for it seems that trees, like horses, have their established points of excellence, and that there are some in England which enjoy very extensive celebrity from being perfect in their kind. 2. There is something nobly simple and pure in such a taste. |