LIBRARY

•ESS*

SAN DIEGO

.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER,

AXD

FORTUNA FLORA.

SARAH JOSEPHA HALE,

OOi» «TBA1T, „„ ^.^ ^ ,

OE THI TIOIL OF L0»« J » « H4..r OUT," ,TO

BNLAMED BDITlOy, WITH

BOSTON:

SANBORX, CARTER AND BAZIN
PORTLAND:

SANBORN & CARTER.

1856.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1*18, by

BENJAMIN B. MUStJBY AND COMPANY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the DUtrirt of

Massachusetts.

STEREOTYPED AT TUB
BOVTON TYPE AN1> STKKKOTVf'K

A NEW INTRODUCTION.

SITTBBW years ago we prepared FLORA'S INTERPRETER, the
first part of this work. The many imitations of our plan, as well
as the extensive and steady demand for the book, hare equally
proved its excellence.

We have now added a new and original department of Floral
literature, namely, the mystical language of flowers, those sweet
messenger* of nature ; and FOHTUSA FLORA may be considered
as completing the work. We trust this last part will be received
with favor by that portion of our friends to whom " years have
taught wisdom." Such persons will not regard this effort to stim-
ulate the young to the observance of the hidden meanings which
may lie concealed in the flower volumes of nature as unworthy
their notice. They will feel that

Wtedora is with the heart. An falls the daw
On every plant beneath the freshening sky,
Bo wUdom may be found on every page
That bean the impress of an earnest spirit,
Seeking the Good, and True, and Beautiful.

And the young will learn these lessons easier, and remember
them longer, when connected with the innocent amusements that
belong to their flower time of life.

Flowers have always been symbols of the affections, probably
ever since our first parents tended theirs in the garden of Ood'a
own planting. They seem hallowed from that association, and in-
tended, naturally, to represent pure, tender, and devoted thought*
and feelings. The expression of these feelings has been, in all
ages, the province of poetry ; therefore we must refer to the
poets in order to settle the philology of flowers. This we have
done. We have carefully searched the poets and writers on
Eastern manners, where flowers are now the messengers of the
heart, and have selected the most approved interpretations.

IV A NEW INTRODUCTION.

"We have, moreover, endeavored to unite real knowledge with
this fanciful language ; the arrangement of each flower with iU
botanic as well as common name, and also its class and order, will
be found of much utility by familiarizing or fixing these terms in
the mind of the reader. The locality of the plant, too, will ena-.
ble those who desire the information to judge where any particu-
lar flower may best be cultivated — whether in the garden or
greenhouse.

But the most important aim of the work was to select and in-
corporate with our love of nature and flowers the choicest and
the best specimens of American poetry. In this we think we
have succeeded, and that the beauty, variety, and excellence of
these gems of thought, fancy, feeling, and passion, can never be
equalled in any work of this kind — because we had the first
choice of the field ; unless, indeed, our imitators take our selec-
tions bodily from FLORA'S INTERPRETER, as some of them have
already done to an extent which is very obvious.* But we trust
that in the part now added — FORTUNA FLORA — no one will thus
interfere, for some years at least, to take from us the profits of
projecting and preparing a work that has cost us much time and
research.

The choice extracts from the British Poets are, of course, open
to every writer, and are often used ; but we have endeavored to
place these truly classical specimens of the Old World literature
in a new light, by linking them, as it were, with the hopes and
loves of our " own green forest land."

We feel quite at liberty to select whatever is best and brightest
from the productions of British genius for this work, because
FLORA'S INTERPRETER has been republished in London, and, un-
der the title of" The Book of Flowers," sold largely without any
remuneration to the author. It is quite probable this new and
enlarged work may have the same honor.

To the youth of America we dedicate anew this book we have
prepared for them. May it inspire our young women to cultivate
those virtues which can only be represented by the fairest flowers ;
and may our young men strive to be worthy of the love that these
fairest flowers can so eloquently reveal.

BOSTON, August I, 1848.

* It may be best to state that all the poetic selections hero designated
" anonymous," were written by Mrs. Hale, eipreusly for Flora'g Inter-
oreter. Those who use these will know from whom they borrow

INDEX OP POEMS,

The Flower Spirit
The Sweet Bner

To the Fringed Gentian, ......... '"v£

To the Trailing Arbutus ....... ""££

TheGround Laurel ..... I ............. .............. f$

The LUv of the Valley .................. .......... H

Night-blowing Cercu'H ....... ....... ££

The Crocus's Soliloquy ........ ....... 9/n

To a withered Rose,..:.... ............ ;]?

To the Houston* Cerulea ......... '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. ........ £J

To a White Chrysanthemum ............. '"*£&

A Flower from Mount Vcrnon . . " * oT«

The Alpine Flowers ......... . ...... .............. $

The Three Flowers,. ............ ...V^ "; ................ gj

The FlowerAnffcls ....... ............ o7n

The Death of the Flowers ....... '.'.".'.'.'.'.I'. ........... |1?

To the Passion Flower, .. .......... .."; ........... %&

INDEX OP PORTUNA FLORA

Introductory Remarks

Temperaments

Januan-

March

&?• ..................................... :::::::::::::::

&;::::::::::::::::;::: ................................ ™

....................

.

August ....................

September .........

October .................... ;;;;;;

November .........

December ............... .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'

Sentiments for the Week — Love .
Friendship, .........

Sentiments'for the" Month', .' .* ! .' '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. ' '. '. '. '. '. .' .' \ ', .* .' .' ." i " ] ". '.'278

BOTANICAL EXPLANATIONS.

FLOWER&

There are seven elementary parts in a flower— or, properly
•peaking, flower and fruit

1. Calyx. The outer or lower part of the flower, generally

not colored.

2. Corel. The colored blossom of the flower, within or above

the calyx.

8. Stamens. The mealy or glutinous knobs, generally on the
ends of slender filaments.

4. Pistil The central organ of a flower ; the base of this be-

comes the pericarp or seed.

5. Pericarp. The covering of the seed, whether pod, shell,

bag, or pulpy substance.

6. Seed. The essential part, containing the rudiments of a

new plant

7. Receptacle. The base which sustains the other six parts,

being at the end of the stem.

Any accidental appendage U a nectary. The form and posi-
tions of these organs, and of no other part, are employed in dis-
tinguishing the Classes, Orders, and Genera.

Double flowers are formed by changing the stamens into petals.
Botanists term these vegetable moruter*.

INFLORESCENCE;
OR, MANNER OF FLOWERING.

1. Whorl. An assemblage of flowers surrounding the atom 01
its branches, constitute a whorl or ring : this is seen in the Mint
and many of the labiate plants.

2. Raceme, or cluster, consists of numerous flowers each on
its own stalk or pedicle, and all arranged on one common pe-
duncle; as, a bunch of Currants.

5. Panicle bears the flowers in a kind of loose subdivided
bunch or cluster, without any regular order; as in the Oat A
panicle contracted into a compact, somewhat ovate form, as in
the Lilac, is called a Tfiyrse, or bunch; a bunch of Grapes is a
good example.

4. Spike. This is an assemblage of flowers arising from the
sides of a common stem: the flowers are sessile, or with very
short peduncles; as, the Wheat and the Mullein.

6. Umbel — several flower-stalks, of nearly equal length,
spreading out from a common centre, like the rays of an um-
brella, bearing flowers on their summits; as, Fennel and Carrot.

6. Cyme resembles an umbel in having its common stalks all
spring from one centre, but differs in having those stalks irregu-
larly subdivided; as, the Snow-ball and Elder.

7. Corymb, or false umbel— when the peduncles rise from'dif-
ferent heights above the main stem; but the lower ones being
longer, they form nearly a level, or convex top; as, the Yarrow.

8. Fascicle — flowers on little stalks variously inserted and
subdivided, collected into a close bundle, level at the top; as,
the Sweet William.

9. Head, or tuft, has sessile flowers heaped together in a
globular form; as in the Clover.

10. Ament, or catkin, is an assemblage of flowers composed
of scales and stamens, arranged along a common thread-like re-
ceptacle; as in the Chestnut and Willow.

11. Spadix is an assemblage of flowers, growing upon a
common receptacle, and surrounded by a spatlm, or sheath; as
in the Egyptian I.ily.

INDEX OF AMERICAN AUTHORS.

Anonymous, 43, 69, 75, 97, 120, 138,

143, 251, 180, 813, 222. 22*. 230
Atlantic BouYenlr, - 60, 77, 95
II.irk.-r, Jame» N. - - 127,220
Bi-iijiiinin, P. . 55,98,191,236
Brainard, - - - 74,233
Brljcht, J. H. ... 197
llrooks, J.O. ... 159
Uryaut, 66, 183, 126, 157, 823, 235
Clnrk, W. O. 117, 181, 122, 221
Dana, 17, 24, 124

Diiwei, 20. 22, 86, 44, 63, 88, 105, 167
UnmlM.Wn.' IwThS, 309 245
Uoane, O. W. ... SO
Drake, J. R. ... 315
Kaalburne, ... 147

Embury, Mr*. 80, 71,75, 89, 98, 119,

. , - i

Kvi-n-tl, E.lwarJ, - - 837
Everett, John, - 56

Fairlleld, 3. L. . • 194, 800
KrM.i,-. - - - .85,310
Gould, Ml,, n. F. 69, 133, 136,145,

831, 237

Gray, Thomas, Jr. - - 189
llHlleck, 48,58,65, 130, 137,154,208
Hill, F. 8. 175

Hillhoutt, - - 84,93,98
Holm«i,O.W.41,152,160,173^13,214
Lad.e.' Mafatine, (M«. Hale'.) 39,

79, 106, 111, 118, 141, 150, 151,

lea, 179

Lcggett, .... 201
Little, Mrm. ... 169

Lincoln, B. .... 61
Locke, A. A. - • 187.809
Mellea.0. - - 25,53

Miller, ... 45,78

MorrU, O. P. . . 83, 139
Morrto. Robert, - 38, 102, 163
Ni-.il, John, . - - IffT
N. E. Magazine, 94, 158, 166, 193
New York Mirror, 44, 146, 165
Oagooij, Mra. - 88, 88, 170, 184
Pauldin*, - . - 140,219
Perclva", 13, 19, 88, 87, 35, 45\ 47,
52, M, 68, 72, 76, 77, 80, 81, 86,
91, 93, 100, 105. 113, 119, 131,
HI, 114, 145, 156, 161, Ifi4, 17.'
176, 186, 191, 198, 195, 198, JJ I
Plorpont, .... 178
Piiu-knt-y, ... 68, 96
I'l-ruiicr, <J. W. - . . 60
Rojfrm, J. F. - - - l-.>9

Saixeaiit, J. O. 90, 125, 190, -^17
BiXuurney. Mr». - 21,34,135
SIMIIIIH, W. U. - *23, 52, 234
Smith, Mm. L. P. 38, 90, 101, 108,

112, 128, 142, 195,226
Bprajrue, . . 134,135,211
Thatcher, B B - H8

Token, 33, 43, 108, 109, 115, 129,

153. 170, 177

W.-1U, Mr.. 45, 81, 91, 149, 218

Wrtmorr, P. M. - - - ft!

Whittu-r, 76, 103, 116, 133, 183,

196. 202, 206, 807, 812, 216, 2^5

Whitman, M«. ' - - 241

Wilco*, .... 36

Wlllii, 14, 28, 29. 88, 87, 40, 50, 51,

54, 57, 64, 73, 86, 87, 99, 100,

103, 104,110,111, 114,155, 162,

167, 174, 181, 183, 188, 203, 805

Yamoyden, -' - - 98, 1M

X CLASSES AND ORDERS

19. Syngensia,— stamens 5, united by their anthers in one set,

flowers compound,— China-aster, Daisy, etc.

20. Gynandria,— stamens stand on the germ, style or stigma,

separate from the base of the calyx or corol,— Orchia, etc.

21. Monacia,— stamens and pistils in separate flowers on the

same plant, — Amaranth, Pine, Nettle, etc.

22. Diacia, — stamens and pistils on separate plants, — Yew, etc.

23. Polygamia, — stamensvariouslysituated — sometimes on flow-

ers with pistils, sometimes stamens only, — Mimosa", etc.

24. Cryptogajnia, — the flowers of this class are invisible to the

naked eye,— Lichen, Moss, etc.

ORDERS.

THE first thirteen orders are distinguished entirely by the
number of pistils. The names of these orders arc,

Monogynia— 1 pistil. Heptagynia -7.

Digynia— 2. Octagynia— 8.

Trigynia— 3. Enneagynia— 9.

Tetradyginia— 4. Decagynia — 10.

Pentagynia— 5. Dodecagynia — 12.

Hexagynia— 6. Polyginia, many pistils

t_ ™ u n f 1 Gymnospermia — seed naked.

The 14th Class has 2 orders- j g A4iosp(frniia_seed i^p^es.

( 1 Silliculosa — pod short
15th Class-2 orders- \ 2 siliqu08a_pSd long.

16, 17, 18th Classes. — In these the orders are determined from
the number of stamens.

19. Class 5, orders 1. Equalis. — 2. Superjlua.—l. Frusta-

nea.— 4. Necessaria. — 5. Segeri*ata.

20, 21st Classes. — Orders have the same names as the preceding

classes.

22d Class has 8 orders; the first seven named from the number
of stamens — the 8th, Monodelphia, because the stame&d
are united in one set

23d Class has 3 orders. Moncecia — stamens and pistils in sepa-
rate flowers on the same plants. Diacia — stamens, etc.
as different plants. Tricecia — on three flowers.

24th Class is divided into 6 families Felices, (ferns;) 2. Jtfi/s-
ct, (mosses;) 3. Heptaicce, (liverworts;) 4. Jllga, (sea-
weeds;) 5. Lichenes, (lichens;) 6. Fungi', (mushrooms.)

POISONOUS PLANTS.

1. Plants with five stamens and one pistil, with a dull-colored
lurid corol, and of a nauseous sickly smell, always poisonous.
As, tobacco, thorn-apple, henbane, nightshade.

2. Umbel life rout plants of the aquatic kind and a nauseous
scent are always poisonous. As, water-hemlock, cow-parsley.
But if the smell is pleasant, and they grow in dry land, they are
not poisonous. As, fennel, dill, coriander.

3. Plants with labiate corols, and seeds in capsules, frequently
poisonous. As, snap-dragon, fox-glove.

4. Plants from which issue a milky juice on being broken, are
poisonous, unless they bear compound flowers. As, milk-weed,
dogbane.

5. Plants having any appendage to the calyx or corol, and
eight or more stamens, generally poisonous. As, columbine,
nastnrtion.

Plants with few stamens, not poisonous, except tho number
be five; but if the number be twelve or more, and the smell
nauseous, heavy and sickly, the plants are generally poisonous.

TO PRESERVE FLOWERS AND PLANTS.

Place the specimens in a close, dark room; when the plants
are nearly dry, press them, in small quantities enveloped in pa-
per, till the oil appears on the surface, which you will know by
its discoloring the paper; then do them up in clean paper bags,
and they will retain their fragrance, color, and medicinal proper-
ties, for years

CLASSES AND ORDERS.

THK explanations of these moot necessarily be very brief; my
aim being rather to stimulate curiosity respecting the subject of
Botany, than to impart instruction in the science. A few general
facts, and a few of the first terms, are all that can be given.

Flowers in the Linnaean system are divided into twenty-four
Classes. These Classes are divided into Orders ; Orders into
Genera; Genera into Species; Species are frequently changed
into Varieties.

The first ten classes are distinguished by the number of their
itaineiis; — thus,

1. Monandria, — 1 stamen, — Flowering Reed is the only one

of this class given.

2. Diandria, — 2 stamens, — Lilac, Sage, Jasmine, etc

3. Triandria, — 3 stamens, — Crocus, Iris, Oat, etc.

4. Tetrandria, — 4 stamens, — Witch-Hazel, Holly, etc.

6. Pentandria, — 5 stamens, — Violet, flax, Woodbine, etc.

6. Hexandria, — 6 stamens, — Lily, Sorrel, Aloe, etc.

7. Heptandria, — 7 stamens, — Horse-chestnut, etc. None of

this class given.

8. Octandria, — 8 stamens, — Nasturtion, etc.

9. Eneandria, — 9 stamens, — Laurel, etc.

10. Decandria, — 10 stamens, — Rue, Pink, Hydrangea.

11. Dodecandria, — 12 to 19 stamens, — Mignonette, etc.

\ Icosandria, — 20 or more, standing on the calyx. Rose, etc.
a«. Polyandria, — always 20 or more, on the receptacle, —
Butter-cup, Larkspur, Peony, etc.

14. Didynamia, — 4 stamens, 2 of them uniformly the longest,

— Fox-glove, Balm, Thyme, etc.

15. Tetr adynamia, — 6 stamens, 4 of them uniformly the long-

art, — Gilly-Flower, Honesty, Queen's Rocket, etc.

16. Monodelphia, — stamens united by their filaments in one set,

anthers being separated, — Geraniums, Hibiscus, etc.

17. Diadelphia, — stamens united by their filaments in two sets,

— flowers papilionaceous, or butterfly-shaped.

18. Polydelphia, — stamens in two sets, united at the bottom by

the filaments,— Orange, St. John's Wort, e*.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

1 In Eaxtern lands they talk In rtowerm,
And they tell In a garland their loves and crnrw)
Each blouom that bloom* In their rarden bowera,
On lu IcsTea a mystic language bean ;
Then gather a wrtatk from the garden bowera,
And tell the wUb of thy heart ID flowers.'

Ptreivat.

ACACIA, YELLOW. Clan 17. Order 10. Common

(t I?S<V>M«MS»« around Now Orleans. The same

A. Farneinana. Bpeciea m

and India.

CONCEALED LOVE

Our sands are bare, but smiling there
The Jlcacia waves her yellow hair,
Lonely and sweet, nor loved the less
For flowering in the wilderness.

Moore.

SENTIMENT.

They never felt.

Those summer flies that flit so gayly round thee,
They never felt one moment what I feel,
With such a silent tenderness, and keep
So closely in my heart.

Ptretml
2

14 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ALMOND, FLOWERING. cia»t 12. Order . Nat.ve of

^ East' China' Barfly, etc.
It flowera early— blosaonw snow-
white.

HOPE.

The Hope in dreams of a happier hour,
Which alights on misery's brow,
Springs out of the silvery Almond flower,
That blooms on a leafless bough.

Moore.

SENTIMENT.

There are hopes

Promising well, and love-touched dreams for some
And passions, many a wild one, and fair schemes

For gold and pleasure.

Oh, if there were not better hopes than these —
Were there no palm beyond a feverish fame —
If truth and fervor and devotedness,
Finding no worthy altar, must return
And die with their own fulness — if beyond
The grave there is no heaven, in whose wide air
The spirit may find room, and in the love
Of whose bright habitants this lavish heart
May spend itself— what thrice-mocked fools are we!

WUli

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 16

L, FRUTEX. Clan 16. Order 13. (Syrian

Hibiscus Siiriacus Mallow,) a shrub 4 to 6 feet

high. Native of the East. Flow-
era white and roae color.

CONSUMED BY LOVE.

The fable of Althea and her unfortunate son, who
lost his life in consequence of his love for the beauti-
ful ..'llulantu — his consuming away as the fatal brand
was burning, suggested the emblem of ' Consumed
by love.'

Flora'i Dictionary.

SENTIMENT.

Comfort cannot soothe

The heart whose life is centred in the thought
Of happy loves, once known, and still in hope,
Living with a consuming energy.

Ptrcival.

ANSWER.

Go, kneel a worshipper at Nature's shrine!
For you her rivers flow, her hills arise;
For you her fields are green, and fair her skies;
And will you scorn them all, to pour your tame
And heartless lays of forced or fancied sighs?

/. R. Drak*

16 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ALOE Clots 6. Order 1 . Native of the Cape of Good
Hope, Egypt, etc. The flower of the Aloe ha*
no calyx. A bitter and medicinal juice in ex-
tracted from the leaves.

RELIGIOUS SUPERSTITION.

In climes beneath the solar ray,
Where beams intolerable day,
And arid plains in silence spread,
The pale green Alot lifts its head —
The mystic branch at Moslem's door
Betokens travel long and sore
In Mecca's weary pilgrimage.

Flora?* Dictionary.

SENTIMENT.

All tenderness you seemed,
Gentle and social as a playful child ;
But now in lonely superstition wrapped,
As on an icy mountain-top thou sittest
Lonely and unapproachable, or tossed
Upon the surge of passion, like the wreck
Of some proud Tyrian in the stormy sea.

WUunut.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. i7

AMARANTH. C7«« 19. Ordtr5. (Prince's Feather,)

• genus of nearly 40 specie*; almost ex-

»

America. Only three species in Europe
—flowers crimson.

IMMORTALITY.

Immortal Amaranth! a flower which once

In paradise, fast by the tree of life

Hegan to bloom; but soon, for man's offence,

To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows

And flowers aloft, shading the tree of life.

Milton.

SENTIMENT.

And with our frames do perish all our loves?
] )o those who took their root and put forth buds,
And there soft leaves unfolded in the warmth
Of mutual hearts, grow up and live in beauty,
Then fade and fall like fair unconscious flowers?
******

A voice within us speaks that startling word,
' Man, thou shalt never die!' Celestial voices
Hymn it unto our souls: according harps,
By angel fingers touched, when the mild stars
Of morning sang together, sound forth still
The song of our great immortality.

Dana.
2*

18 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

AMARANTH, GLOBE. ClastS. Order 5.

Gomphrena, globosa. %^££

species; white, purple, and
variegated. They resemble,
in their form, heads of clover

UNCHANGEABLE.

And hong long locks of hair, and garlands bound,

With Amaranth flowers, —
Such flowers as in the wintry memory bloom,

Of one friend left.

Southiy.

SENTIMENT.

Think not, beloved, time can break

The spell around us cast,
Or absence from my bosom take

The memory of the past:
My love is not that silvery mist,
From summer blooms by sunbeams kissed,

Too fugitive to last —
A fadeless flower, it still retains
The brightness of its earlier stains.

Nor burns it like the raging fire,
In tainted breast which glows ;
All wild and thorny as the brier,

Without its opening rose:
A gentler, holier love is mine,
Unchangeable and firm, while thine

Is pure as mountain snows;
Nor yet has passion dared to breathe
A spell o'er Love's immortal wreath.

Anon. (Albany Advertittr.)

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 19

AMARYLLIS. Clou 6. Order 1. A very splendid and

Formosis&ima. numerous genus, chiefly tropical, and

principally indigenous to America and

the southern extremity of Africa.

Flowers deep red

BEAUTIFUL, BUT TIMID.

When heaven's high vault condensing clouds deform,
Fair Amaryllis flies the incumbent storm,
Seeks with unsteady steps the sheltered vale,
And turns her blushing beauties from the gale.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

She looked, how lovely. — Not the face of heaven

In its serenest colors, nor earth in all

Its garniture of flowers, nor all that live

In the bright world of dreams, nor all the eye

Of a creative spirit meets in air,

Could, in the smile and sunshine of her charms,

Not feel itself o'ennastered by such rare

And perfect beauty: — Yet she bore herself

So gently, that the lily on its stalk

Bends not so easily its dewy head.

PtrcivaL

20 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

AMBROSIA. (Bitter Weed.) Clast 19. Order 6. A

North American genus, with the excop-
tion of one Bpecie8 -m perU) and another
indigenous to the sea-shores of the Le-
vant Found in Upper Louisiana.

LOVE RETURNED.

To farthest shores the ambrosial spirit flies,
Sweet to the world, and grateful to the skies.

Pop*.

SENTIMENT.

And canst thou not accord thy heart

In unison with mine,
Whose language thou alone hast heard,

Thou only canst divine ?
And wilt thou not revoke that cold

And merciless decree,
Nor yield one solitary thought,

To plead my wrongs to thee?

Daw*.

ANSWER.

Oh, knowest thou, dear one, of Woman's love,

With its faith that woes more deeply prove,

Its fondness wide as the limitless wave,

And chainless by nought but the silent grave;

With devotion as humble as that which brings

To his idol the Indian's offerings;

Yet proud as that which the priestess feels,

When she nurses the flame of the shrine while she

kneels:

Oh, knowest thou, dear, what this love may be?
Such ever has been in my heart for thee.

Mr* Embury.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

AMERICAN STARWORT. clan 19. Order*.

Aster, trodtscanti. i80"- «>"«»""« .of "»re

tlmn 100 species, is almost
exclusively indigenous to
N. America and the (.'ape
of Good Hope. It flowers
late, and the flowers are
of every variety of color.

WELCOME TO A STRANGER.

And thus do come the autumn flowers,
Lingering like exiles on their way,
And ere they ventured to our bowers
Put on their best of bright and gay.

SENTIMENT.

Stranger, new flowers in our vales are seen,

With a dazzling eye, and a lovely green. —

They scent the breath of the dewy morn:

They feed no worm, and they hide no thorn,

Rut revel and glow in our balmy air;

They are flowers which Freedom hath planted there

This bud of welcome to thee we give, —

Bid its unborn sweets in thy bosom live;

It shall charm thee from all a stranger's pain,

Reserve, suspicion, and dark disdain:

A race in its freshness and bloom are we ;

Bring no cares from a worn-out world with thee.

Mrt. Sigournty.

22 FLORA I INTERPRETER.

AWEMONE. (Wind-flower.) Clou 18.

Anemone. Firginiana. £££** f^ffi^

ica. The flowers of the
Anemone are of various
colors — white, blue, purple,
yellow, crimson, etc.

ANTICIPATION.

Beside a fading bank of snow,
A lovely Anemone blew,
Unfolding to the sun's bright glow
Its leaves of heaven's serenest hue: —
T is Spring, I cried; pale Winter's fled;
The earliest wreath of flowers is blown;
The blossoms, withered long and dead,
Will soon proclaim their tyrant flown.

Pereival.

SENTIMENT.

Alas! that dreams are only dreams,

That fancy cannot give
A lasting beauty to those forms

Which scarce a moment live.

Alas! that youth's fond hopes should fade,

And love be but a name,
While its rainbows, followed e'er so fast,

Are distant still the same.

ANNS,

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 23

APOCYNUM. (Indian Hemp.) Clatt 5. Ordtr

//.,«« tfVtY/>/;«im *• There are several »pecies of

Hypenajoliwn.

.India,
and the Cape of Good Hope.

FALSEHOOD.

I bid thee of this fair smiling friend beware,
And say the false Jipocynwn is there.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

Touch not the hand they stretch to you ;

The falsely proffered cup put by:
Will you believe a coward true?

Or taste the poison draught to die ?

Their friendship is a lurking snare ;

Their honor but an idle breath ;
Their smile — the smile that traitors wear;

Their love is hate, their life is death.

W. O. Si***

24 FLORA'* INTERPRETER.

ARUM. (Wake Robin.) Clou 21. Order t. A

cLuw of about 80 "P60"*' principally to-
digenom to India and the wanner part* of
Europe and America.

FEROCITY AND DECEIT.

Arum, that in a mantling hood conceals
Her sanguine club, and spreads her spotted leaf,
Armed with keen tortures for the unwary tongue.

Gitbornt.

SENTIMENT.

O, he 's accurst from all that 's good,
Who never knew Love's healing power;
Such sinner on his sins must brood,
And wait alone his hour.
If stranger to earth's beauty — human love,
There is no rest below, nor hope above.

AIM.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. t5

ARBOR-VIT.E. (False White Cedar.) ClattZl. Order

'J'tnii i lf<- M"-<tlv small trees. Indigenous

"wJUt to N. America and Siberia; also found

in China, Japan and the Capo of Good

Hope. The wood was formerly used in

making images.

UNCHANGING FRIENDSHIP.

The true and only friend is he
Who, like the Arbor-vita, tree,
Will bear our image on his heart.

Sir Wm, Jonm.

SENTIMENT.

The dim lights

Which man has set upon the way of life,
And called its pleasures, must by fiat fade,
And leave the beacon only that 's within!
O then for quiet, or the meaner home,
Where fashion reigns not, and the weary heart
Beats but to one, and answers pulse with pulse.
Then for the soul's own circle, never broken
By the rude foot that tramples on the flowers
Of all our best affections.

Grenrillt Mtlltn.

ANSWER.

Where'er thou journey est, or whate'er thy care,
My heart shall follow, and my spirit share. —

Mr$. Sigournty

s

«6 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

AURICULA, SCARLET. <?/</« 5. Order I. Perenni-

. . ol ilowunni* tiurlv • most of

Primula auricula.

tli6 species ulpinc, no wen

of almost every color.

PRIDE.

Where, rayed in sparkling dust and velvet pride,
Lake brilliant stars arranged in splendid row,
The proud Auriculas their lustre show.

KlutL

SENTIMENT.

T is not the fairest form, that holds

The mildest, purest soul within;
*T is not the richest plant that folds

The sweetest breath of fragrance in:
Then, lady, cast thy pride away,

And chase those rebel thoughts of thine;
The casket may be bright and gay,

Yet all within refuse to shine:
For, should misfortune ever lower,

'T will cloud those charms that dazzle so ;
And friends who greet thy fortune's power,

Will smile upon its overthrow.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 27

BACHELOR'S BUTTON. c/*i«« 10. Onier 2. R«-dot
Lycknis, dioica. Whiu. Field Campion. Flow-

era in J uiie.

HOPE IN LOVE.

Flora's choice Buttons of a mingled dye
Is liope — even in the depths of misery.

Brown*.

SENTIMENT.

Never forget our loves, but always cling
To the fixed hope that there will be a time
When we can meet unfettered, and be blest
With the full happiness of certain love.

Ptrciml.

28 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

BALM Clasx 14. 0'<ier 1. F.urop«an

Melissa, officinal*. *?>££ ™« t'^V-

found iii lanes, and ulong road-
sides.

SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.

And Balm, that never ceases uttering sweets,
Goes decking the green earth with drapery.

Flora Domeslica,

SENTIMENT.

Blessed we sometimes are! and I am now
Happy in quiet feelings; for the tones
Of a most pleasant company of friends
Were in my ear but now, and gentle thoughts
From spirits whose high character I know;
And 1 retain their influence, as the air
Retains the softness of departed day.

H 'illii.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 29

(Tourh-rne-not.) Cla*t 5. Order 1.

Stein i.ill, und much lir.mrlii d. It w a
native ni' tin- Kast Indicn, China, Japan
and also of America.

IMPATIENCE.

With fierce distracted eye Impatiens stands,
Swells her pale cheeks, and brandishes her hands;
With rajje and hate the astonished grove alarms,
And hurls her infants from her frantic arms.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

There are some things I cannot bear,

Some looks which rouse my angry hate,
Some hearts whose love I would not share,

Till earth and heaven wore desolate.
1 cannot hear to be with men

Who only see my weaknesses;
Who know not what I might have been,

Hut scan my spirit as it is:
And when my heart would gush with feeling

To catch one kind, one sunny look,
When lore would be a leaf of healing,

But scorn a thing I will not brook —
Oh, it is hard to put the heart

Alone and desolate away,
To curl the lip, in pride, and part

With the kind thoughts of yesterday.
Tis strange they know not that the chill

Of their own looks hath made me cold;
What though my words fall seldom, still

Their own proud bearing hath controlled
My better feelings. They forget

I have a heart of kindness yet.

WiUit.
3»

50 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

BAY LEAF. (Bay or Laurel tree.) Cla*t 9. Order 1.

I > • According to th« (jreek 1'iule, Daphne

was transformed into the l.aurrl or I'.ay
tree, and Apollo, her lover, crowned his
head with tlie leaves.

I CHANGE BUT IN DYING.

Flowers seek the light, their beauties to display;
Th* /eo/*will smile the same by night as day.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

In bower and garden rich and rare
There 's many a cherished flower,
Whose beauty fades, whose fragance flits
Within the flitting hour.
Not so the simple forest leaf,
Unprized, unnoticed lying —
The same through all its little life —
It changes but in dying.

Be such, and only such, my friends;
Once mine, and mine forever;
And here 's a hand to clasp in theirs,
That shall desert them never.
And thou be such, my gentle love,
Time, chance, the world defying;
And take, 't is all I have, a heart
That changes but in dying.

O. W. DOOM.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 81

BAY WREATH. ClauQ. Order 1. Lauras WM

Caroluicims. p.° ..J," gientT J^n JJ"!!anof **"

cies of the Laurus. Found most-
ly within tlio tropics; a few in
the United Suites.

GLORY.

The laurel only to adorn
The conqueror and the poet.

Drayto*.

SENTIMENT.

Ambition! ambition! I 've laughed to scorn

Thy robe and thy gleaming sword;
I would follow sooner a woman's eye,

Or the spell of a gentle word.
But come with the glory of human mind,

And the light of the scholar's brow,
And my heart shall be taught forgetfulnesa,

And alone at thy altar bow.

FFIOfc.

ANSWER.

It is wonderful,

That man should hold himself so haughtily,
And talk of an immortal name, and feed
His proud ambition with such daring hopes
As creatures of a more eternal nature
Alone should form.

ftrcitwl.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

BOX. Clatt 21. Order 4. The nrboro«-,ent Hoi

i» grown to the height of 12 or 10 iVct. The

ancient* used to clip it into the .>lu|n- of ani-
mals. Native of Europe and America. Tins
Dwarf Box never rises higher than three feet.
It u» used to divide becU from the walks of
flower-gardens.

CONSTANCY.

Though youth be past, and beauty fled,
The constant heart its pledge redeems,
Like Box, that guards the flowerless bed,
And brighter from the contrast seems.

Anon.

SENTIMENT

1 have won

Thy heart, my gentle girl ! but it hath been
When that soft eye was on me ; and the love
I told beneath the evening influence,
Shall be as constant as its gentle star.

Willit.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 33

Clattll. Order 10. A genus of 0 ,nb«
Genista. almost entirely European. Ther are

three varieties — the yellow, violet, and
white flowering.

HUMILITY.

When Dan Sol to slope his wheels began
Amid the Broome to bask him on the ground,
Where the wild thyme and chamomile are found—-
There would he linger, till the latent ray
Ol' lights .-at trembling on the welkin bound.

Thornton.

SENTIMENT.

The rose in thy garden this morning that bloomed,
See its leaves arc all faded and strewed o'er the plain,
An<l even the /ephvr, whose breath it perfumed,
Seems sighing to sav that all beautv is vain.
lint there is u fnrnr that eamiot drcnve,
That all may confide in to whom it is given;
And there is a '6<pni//j/' no time can bereave,
That perfumes with its fragrance the gardens of

heaven:

'T is the j'nrur Humility earns from on high —
Shown to all who in virtue's fair pathway ahull move;
'T is the Ixdiilij of Holiness, never to die,
But to blossom forever in bowers above.

Token for 1828.

34 FLORA'S INTERPRETER

BUTTER-CUP. KlNC-CUP. Clan 13. Or/i-r 3. An

Ranunculus, aero l*^*'* frm'^!^'""^

pean. Color of tlie (lower
yellow generally ; flowen
from May till August

RICHES.
Bright flowing King-cups promise future wealth —

The golden King-cup shines in the merry month of
May.

Smdhey.

SENTIMENT.

'Money makes many friends,' the proverb saith.
Had I the means of winning only one,
I 'd deem myself the richest man on earth,
Nor envy even Rothschild's golden name.

ANSWER.

Thinkest thou the man whose mansions hold
The worldling's pride, the miser's gold,

Obtains a richer prize
Than he who in his cot, at rest,
Finds heavenly peace a willing guest,
Ajid bears the earnest in his breast

Of treasure in the skies ?

Mn. Sigourney.

FLORA S INTERPRETER. 55

CALLA, jETHIOPICA. Clan 20. Order IS. Ana-

'- »» » «

er, calyx white an ulabaater,
and has a pleasant perfume.

MAGNIFICENT BEAUTY.

Magnificent Calla, in mantle of milk.

.Mrt.

SENTIMENT.

When I look

On one so fair, I must believe that Heaven
Sent her in kindness, that our hearts might waken
To their own loveliness, and lill themselves,
By such an adoration, from a dark
And grovelling world. Such beauty should be wor-
shipped;

And not a thought of weakness or decay
Should mingle with the pure and hallowed dreams
In which it dwells before us.

PtrciwiL

ANSWER.

How idly of the human heart we i peak,
Giving it gods f clay.

06 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

CALYCANTHUS. (Carolina Allnpiee.) Clcu, 12 0,-

f^ r>l ., der 5. Odoriferous and >[>i''\

C. tlonaus. Flowt'rs at first dark brown', hcrom-

ing paler in drying ; rhanLriti(; en-
tirely to olive gre«Mi, s«-nt«'<l lik'1
ripe apples. A North American jr-
iius, with the exception of one
species.

BENEVOLENCE.

The gifts of love bear golden fruits,

In usury to the giver's bosom,

As the spicy Calycanthus shoots

Its wreath of flowers from the leafy blossom.*

Anoit.

SE.NTIME.NT.

Wouldst thou from sorrow find a sweet relief,
Or is thy heart oppressed with woes untold?
Balm wouldst thou gather for corroding grief;
Pour blessings round thee like a shower of gold?
T is when the rose is wrapped in ninny a fold
Close to its heart, the worm is wasting there
Its life and beauty; not when, all unrolled,
Led" after leaf, its bosom, rich and fair,
Breathes freely its perfumes throughout the ambient

air.

Rouse to some work of high and holy love,
And thou an angel's happiness shall know.

Carlos Wilcoj:.

* By cutting off the terminal leaf-buds after the usual season, a
succession of flowers may be obtained throughout the Hummer;
every leaf-bud so extracted being constantly succeeded by two
flowers. JYuttall.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER 91

CARNATION. Clan 1C. Order 2. Fhwer* solitary,

/>..//,., • <J ^ rich culture atuineu uiay b«

a ,'Hly changed to petal*. Exotic.

PRI^E AND BEAUTY.

nd there the be tuteoua Carnation stood,

With proud disdainful eye.

Zephyrut and Flora.

SENTIMENT

She has all

That wouk1 ensure an angel's fall;
But there » a cool collected look,
\s if her /.tilscs beat by book, —
A measured tone, a cold reply,
A iiKtin^cinrnt of voice uiid eye,
A calm, poasesned, authentic air,
riuit leaves u doultt ol'sol'luess there,

Fill look and wonthip as 1 may,

My fevered thoughts will pans away.

38 FLORA S INTERPRETER.

CAMELLIA JAPONICA. &au ie. Order is. A lofty,

C. Japonica. Jar8° evergreen tree. Flower.

r large and beautiful, in the form

of a rose, exhibiting a variety
of colors; but the prevailing one
red. A native of China and
Japan.

UNPRETENDING EXCELLENCE.

The chaste Camellia's pure and spotless bloom,
That boasts no fragrance, and conceals no thorn.

William floico*.

SENTIMENT.

Pure-hearted as a buried pearl

Within a crimson shell,
A soft-eyed and a radiant girl

Art thou, my Rosabelle.
Sweet beauty sleeps upon thy brow,

And floats before my eyes;
As meek and pure as doves art thou,

Or beings of the skies.

Thy mild looks are all eloquent,
Thy bright ones free and glad,

Like glances from a pleiad sent —
Thy sad ones sweetly sad.

I think of thee when daylight pours
Her glances through the sky,

And then with thee my spirit soars
Among the things on high.

Thou art an angel by my side ;
To earth I bid farewell,

And every dream of pomp and pride—-
To all but Rosabelle.

JUtrlJHbrrM

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 39

CANTERBURY BF.LL. (H.-ii-flower.) class 5. Order
Campanula, medium. .'• . A VIWt f"u*- bu,1 'nortly

indigenous to Luxope. Only two

>|i.-ri..-s found in South America.
Flowers hi uc, purple or while.
Monopctulous.

I

GRATITUDE.

To mo there 's a tone from the blue Kdl-jlmecr
With her blossoms so fresh when the storm is o'er,
As she thanked the sun for his beams the while,—
That flower has taught me to repay
The friends who have cheered my stormy day,
With a grateful brow and a sunny smile.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

Thou *rt like n star; for when my way was cheerless and forlorn.
And all wait lil.vkness like tin: sky before a coining storm,
Thy beaming smilo and words of love, thy heart of kindness free,
Illum'd my path, then cheered my soul, and bado iu sorrows flee.

Thou 'rt like a star — when sad and lone I wander forth to view
The lamps of ni^ht, beneath their rays my spirit '« nerved anew,
And thus I lovo to gaze on thec, and then I think thou 'at power
To mix the cup of joy for me, even in life's darkest hour.

Thou 'rt like a star — whene'er my eye is upward turned to gaz«
Upon those orbs, I mark with awe their clear celestial blaze;
And then thou seem'st so pure, so high, so beautifully bright
I almost feel as if it were an angel met my sight.

Thou 'rt like a star — perchance the proud and haughty pass me by.
And curl the lip; but not to them is bowed my spirit high;
No, not to them ; e'en should they wear earth's proudest diadem;
Bat I would bow before thee now, and kiss thy garment's hem.

American Lttdiei' Magazine.

40 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

CARDINAL'S FLOWER. Class 5. Order i. Flowers
Lobelia, cardinalis.

of North America; growing by
the uides of rivers und ditches.
It is a beautiful flower.

DISTINCTION.

Lobelia attired like a queen in her pride.

Mrt. Sigournty.

SENTIMENT.

If this familiar spirit, that communes
With yours this hour — that has the power to search
All things — but its own compass — is a spark
Struck from the burning essence of its (jod —
If, when these weary organs drop away,
We shall forget their uses, and commune
With angels and each other, as the stars
Mingle their light in silence and in love —
What is this fleshy letter of a dav,
That we should crown it witn immortal flowers?

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 41

CATCHFLT. Clan 10. Order 3. There are nearly

Silent. *°° species, extending throughout Eu-

rope, uud parsing into liarbary, etc.
One of the most splendid species, flow-
era bright Hcarlet, in found in Ohio and
Lower Lot

ARTIFICE, OR PRETENDED LOVE.

The fell Silent, and her sisters fair,

Skilled in destruction, spread the viscous snare.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

O, I did love her dearly,

And gave her toys and rings,
And thought she meant sincerely,

When she took my pretty things:
But her heart has grown as icy

As a fountain in the fall;
And her love, that was so spicy,

It did not last at all.

I gave her once a locket,

It was filled with my own hair,
And she put it in her pocket

With very special care.
But a jeweller has got it —

He offered it to me,
And another, that is not it,

Around her neck I see.

Before the gates of fashion

I daily bent my knee;
But I sought the shrine of passion,

And found my idol — thee.
Though never love intenser

Had bowed a soul before it, —
Thine eye was on the censer,

And not the hand that bore it.

O. W.
4*

42 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

CEDAR. (Virginia Juniper, or Red Cedar.) Clast

TtmtrtfriLS 20. Order 12. Native of N. America,

^ and the West India Islands, and Japan.

The wood of this tree will resist the attacks

of insects; it is the red cedar BO much used

in lead pencils.

THINK OF ME.

The memory of our loves shall be
As changeless as the Cedar tree.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

Look to the east, when the morning is bright,
When the purple is blending with rays of rose-light:
My spirit shall then hold communion with thee,
And thy blush, bright as morning, must whisper of me.

And look to the west, when pavilioned afar,
Sweet love sends her smile from her own favored star;
And think of our friendship, as pure as star-shine, —
My spirit shall then hold communion with thine.

And at midnight's deep hour, when the moon is on

high,

Should the angel of sleep leave unsealed thy soft eye
Look forth! the calm radiance is hallowed by love,
And then prayers from true hearts may mingle above

Mrt. Halt.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 43

ClIAMOMILE. CVa.wlS. OrrlerZ. Herbaceous;

Jlnlktmis, nobilis. or"1 n°wcr;f r:i>" wlli.tw or r""w;

piM-* mil a fragrant odor. A genu*
of aliout •!."> species, almost exclu-
sively indigenous to Europe.

ENERGY IN ADVERSITY.

Like the meek Chanwmile, it grew
Luxuriant irum the bruise anew.

/. W. Eattburne.

SENTIMENT.

I said to Sorrow's awful storm,

That beat against my breast,
Rage on — thou maysf destroy this form,

And lay it low at rest ;
Yet still, tlir spirit that now brooks

Thy tempest riiging high,
Undaunted, 011 its fury looks

Witli steadfast eye

I said to Penury's meagre train,

Come on — your threats I brave,
My last poor life-drop you may drain,

And crush IMC to tlir jrrave;
Yet still, the spirit that endures,

Shall mock your force the while,
And meet each cold, cold grasp of youn
With bitter smile.

I said to cold Neglect and Scorn,

Pass on — I heed you not ;
Ye may pursue me till my form

And being are forgot ;
Yet still, the spirit which you see

Undaunted by your wiles,
Draws from its own nobility

Its high-born smiles.

Jlnonynunu

44 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

CHINA ASTER. Class W. Order 2. Averjexteo.

Aftr, CMM»». jj fiT-mSSE S,£T£

most beautiful; flowers of alinort
every variety cf color.

LOVE OF VARIETY.

And varied as the Aster's flower,
The charms of beauty bless my eye —
For who would prize the corning hour,
If only like the hours gone by ?

Anon,

SENTIMENT.

The sleepless streams move onward
Through beds of idling lilies,
Chiding the foolish flowers
That watch their mirrored beauty;
So live the thoughtless many,
Who throng the halls of fashion.

Dawu.

ANSWER.

O, we hope and we image through life's busy scenes
Length of years, and the bliss of enjoying;

But, alas! the dark blight of fell death intervenes,
The flower in its blossom destroying.

JVew York Mirror.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 46

CLEMATIS. (Virgin's Bower.) Clots 18. Order 7.

C Viririnica A genus of about 3o species, distributed
0. rirgim over the world. Flowers white and pale

blue.

MENTAL BEAUTY.

To later summer's fragrant breath
Clematis' feathery garlands dance,
And graceful there her fillets weaves.

Smitk.

SENTIMENT.

Beauty has gone; but yet her mind is still
As beautiful as ever; still the play
Of light around her lips has every charm
Of childhood in its freshness.

ANSWER,

The days of youthful friendship,
When heart to heart is lightly bound
In rosy wreaths that bind them round,

More beautiful than strong;
And, even in breaking, scatter flowers,
The rapid growth of sunny hours,

That heal their wounds ere long.

But dearer things than these do lie
Within our mortal grasp — and earth
Hath not a moment from our birth,

The cradle to the sod,
Like that, when freed from passion's sway,
The mind rejects a feebler stay,

And rests its hopes on God.

Mn. Well*

46 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

COLUMBINE. Clou 18. Order 5. A genoi of nx

JJauileeia. 'P6™95 found b Si^eria1.and S^P6'

"VU"C6 "*' and from Canada to Carolina. Flower*

red, purple, blue, while, etc.

DESERTION.

The Columbine in tawny often taken,
Is then ascribed to such as are forsaken.

B

SENTIMENT.

How I have loved thee ! O, recall

Those past delicious hours,
Which made me happy as a bird,

In its sweet home of flowers:
And thou wast all my happiness,

My love — my joy — my pride !
Thou know'st I had no other joy,

And none to love beside.
Then plighted we our nuptial troth,

That it might never change,
Through all the cares and ills of earth,

That other hearts estrange.
And thus through long — long years — but why

Call back the visions flown?
They parted as the wave glides on —

They died as stars go down.
I will not wake those thoughts again,

The hopes like meteor-glows —
What now, alas ! are all to me ?

Dreams! dreams of broken vows!

MilUr.

FLORA 8 INTERPRETER. 47

CONVOLVULUS. (Bind Weed.) Class 5. Order 1.

America, I'.urope and India. Flow-
era white, red mid blue.

WORTH SUSTAINED BY AFFECTION.

Flowers, shrinking from the chilly night,

Droop and shut up; but with fair morning's touch,

Rise on their stems, all open and upright.

Montague.

SENTIMENT.

O! there is one affection which no stain
Of earth can ever darken; — when two find,
The softer and the manlier, that a chain
Of kindred taste has fastened mind to mind;
T is an attraction from all sense refined;
The good can only know it; 'tis not blind,
As love is unto baseness; its desire
IB but with hands entwined to lift our being higher.

Percival.

48 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

COREOPSIS, ARKANSA. Class 19. Order 8. Am

<inc-.ru,.

continues in flower till an
turnn. Flowers yellow.

ALWAYS CHEERFUL.

The Coreopsis, cheerful aa the smile

That brightens on the cheek of youth, and sheds

A gladness o'er the aged.

Jlnonymovt.

SENTIMENT.

The world is bright before thee,

Its summer flowers are thine;
Its calm blue sky is o'er thee,

Thy bosom pleasure's shrine;
And thine the sunbeam given

To nature's morning hour,
Pure, warm, as when from heaven

It burst on Eden's bower.

There is a song of sorrow,

The death-dirge of the gay,
That tells, ere dawn of morrow,

These charms may melt away,
That sun's bright beam be shaded,

That sky be blue no more,
The summer flowers be faded,

And youth's warm promise o'er.

Believe it not — though lonely

Thy evening home may be,
Though beauty's bark can only

Float on a summer's sea;
Though time thy bloom is stealing,

There 's still beyond his art
The wild-flower wreath of feeling,

The sunbeam of the heart.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 49

COWSLIP, AMERICAN. Clan 5. Order \. A beauti-

Dodtcathcon, media. Jj1 fl°wefr> y«»?w a"df !*Wt*

May be round from Maine to
Missouri.

WINNING GRACE.

Smiled like a knot of Cowslips on the cliff.

Blair.

SENTIMENT.

The rose its blushes need not lend,
Nor yet the lily with them blend,

To captivate my eyes:
Give me a cheek the heart obeys,
And, sweetly mutable, displays

Its feelings as they rise ;

Features, where pensive, more than gay,
Save when a rising smile doth play,

The sober thoughts you see;
Eyes that all soft and tender seem,
And kind affections round them beam,

But most of all on me ;

A form, though not of finest mould,
Where yet a something you behold

Unconsciously doth please;
Manners all graceful without art,
Tha* to each look and word impart

A modesty and ease.

Fritbie.

50 FLORA S INTERPRETER.

CROCUS. ClatsS. Order 1. One of tho earliest spring

CroCUS Howers. Colors purple, yellow and whuo.

YOUTHFUL GLADNESS.

Glad as the spring, when the first Crocus comes
To laugh amid the shower. —

Marvin.

SENTIMENT.

Light to thy path, bright creature! I would charm
Thy being, if I could, that it should be
Ever as now thou dreamest, and flow on,
Thus innocent and beautiful, to heaven.

PRtK*

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 51

CROWN IMPERIAL. Clot* 6. Order I. Ind.ffenoiu

p «

white or purplinh.

PRIDE OF BIRTH.

Then heed ye not the dazzling gem
That gleams in Fritillana'a diadem.

JBMM,

SENTIMENT.

It did not need (hat altered look,

Nor that uplififd ln-ow —
I had not askrd thy haughty love,

Were I as proud as now.
My love was like a beating heart —

Unbidden and unstaycd;
And had I known but half its power,

I had not been betrayed.

prow*

62 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

CYPRESS. Class 21. Order 16. The

CuDrcssus* scnwcrvirsns. BL'"U!I ls I1()t

*'* * to Aiuencu und li<uropti« also

found in Asia.

DESPAIR.

The Cypress, that darkly shades the grave,
Is sorrow that mourns its bitter lot.

Percital.

SENTIMENT

I turn me back, and find a barren waste,
Joyless and nivlcss; u few spots are there,
Where briefly it was granted me to taste
The tenderness of youthful love — in air
The charm is broken

Percival.

ANSWER.

• The sick soul,

That burns with love's delusions, ever dreams,

Dreading its losses. It forever makes

A gloomy shadow gather in the skies,

And clouds the day; and, looking far beyond

The glory in its gaze, it sadly sees

Countless privations, and far-coming storms,

Shrinking from what it conjures.

Love is a sorry slave,

And a sad master.

W. G. Simmt.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 53

DAFFODIL. Class 6. Order 1. It is a magnifi-

major. c«nt flower, a natto of Spain. Color
a golden yellow.

UNCERTALNTY.

JVarcmtw, brilliant as our hopes,
Uncertain as our date.

Jlnonymout.

SENTIMENT.

Thou art now in thy morning — and thy youth
Speaks in the leaping blood that rides thy pulse,
And plants its banner on thy cheek and brow.
Young light is in thy eye, and on thy heart;
Thy days are hut the da \vninjis of new hopes,
And thy nights lull of beauty! But time — time,
That stern revolver of our wannest dreams,
Will mark thy life with passages of grief,
And deal thy portion to tlu-e.

* * * # 4 #

I have seen change — though youth is on my brow,
I have seen change. 1 've trod the glittering way
Of the loud throng — and lived in lighted halls;
Fate too has called me to another scene,
And time has brought its trial. I have passed
To life's extremes! quiet, and laid down
In thankfulness of spirit, that my heart
Found joy in that sweet silence. I have said,
Let the world heave on in its ocean-noise,
I ask but friends and home — and if to these
Heaven add the boon of love, my lot is full,
And rapture yet may light my pilgrimage.

Grenville Melltn.

64 VLpRA's INTERPRETER.

DAHLIA. C7o**19. Order 2. A genus only indigenou*

Dalilia '° ^oul'1 America, but culliuttccl in I.urope.

Flowers nearly a* large an the China u^tcr.

ELEGANCE A.ND DIGNITY.

In queenly elegance the Dahlia stands,
And waves her coronet.

Anon,

SENTIMENT.

Thy beauty is as undenied

As the beauty of a star;
And thy heart beats just as equally,

Whale 'er thy praises are;
And so long without a parallel

Thy loveliness hath shone,
That, followed like the tided moon,

Thou movest as calmly on.

65

DAISY. Clau 19. Order 2. A lovely little flower, cora-

Bellis n'(l" 'a ^ur°P°- Flowers early, colors blue and

white.

BEAUTY AND INNOCENCE.

The Daisy scattered on each mead and downe,
A golden tuft within a silver crown;
Fuire fell that dainty flower! and may there be
No shepherd graced that doth not honor thee.

Brown*.

SE.VTIMKNT.

The star that gems life's morning sky,

Smilo sweetly o'er thee now;
And flowers around thy pathway lie,

And roses crown thy brow —
That shod thrir delicate perfume
'Mid ringlets trembling like a plume;
While a deep witchery, soft and bright,
Is floating in those eyes of light.

Pure and undimmed, thy angel smile

Is mirrored on my dreams,
Like evening's sunset girded isle

Upon her shadowed streams:
And o'er my thoughts thy vision floats,
Like melody of spring-bird notes,
When the blue halcyon gently laves
His plumage in the flashing waves.

I cannot gaze on aught that wears

The beauty of the skies,
Or aught that in life's valley bears

The hues of paradise;
I cannot look upon a star,
Or cloud that seems a seraph's car,
Or any form of purity —
IJnmingled with a dronm of thee.

P. Btnjamin.

66 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

DANDELION. C7ass 19- Order I. Indige-

,, taratacum. «™ • gS^CS

early ui the spring; its floweri
open a little after sunrise, and
close before sunset.

COQUETRY.

Thine full many a pleasing bloom
Of blossoms lost to all perfume.
Thine the Dandelion flowers,
Gilt with dew, like suns with showers.

John dart.

SENTIMENT.

Thou delightest the cold world's gaze,

When crowned with the flower and the gem,

But thy lover's smile should be dearer praise
Than the incense thou prizest from them.

And gay is the playful tone,

As to the flattering voice thou respondest;
But what is the praise of the cold and unknown

To the tender blame of the fondest ?

John EceretL

ANSWER.

Cast my heart's gold into the furnace flame,
And if it come not thence refined and pure,
I'll be a bankrupt to thy hope, and heaven
Shall shut its gates on me.

Mr i. Sigovrney.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER 57

DEW PLANT. (Fig. Marygold.) Clan 12. Or-

pie; it differs from the Ice-plant
in having less of the frosted ap-
pearance.

SERENADE.

And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes:
With every pretty thing that bin,
My lady sweet, arise!
Arise, arise!

Shaktptart.

SENTIMENT.

Innocent dreams be thine! thy heart sends up
Its thoughts of purity , like pearly hells,
Rising in crystal fountains. Would I were
A sound, that I might steal upon thy dreams,
And, like the breathing of my llute, distil
Sweetly upon thy senses.
* • * • •

The night above thee broodeth,

1 lushed and deep;
But no dark thought intrudeth

On the sleep

Which folds thy senses now:
Gentle spirits float around thee,
Gentle rest hath softly bound thee,

For pure art thou.

Willit.

58 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

EGLANTINE. (European Sweet Brier.) Clatt 12.

Rosa, rubi<rnosa. Order IS. Flower* pink color, some-

M^IH, times whitish; sweet scented.

I WOUND TO HEAL.

And the fresh Eglantine exhaled a breath,
Whose odors were of power to raise from death.

Spencer.

SENTIMENT.

When the tree of Love is budding first,

Ere yet its leaves are green,
Ere yet by shower and sunbeam nursed

Its infant lite hath been;
The wild bee's slightest touch might wring

The buds from off the tree,
As the gentle dip of the swallow's wing

Breaks the bubbles on the sea:
But when its open leaves have found

A home in the free air,
Pluck them, and there remains a wound

That ever rankles there.
The blight of hope and happiness

Is felt when fond ones part;
And the bitter tear that follows, is

The life-blood of the heart.
Then crush, even in the hour of birth,

The infant buds of love,
And tread the growing fire to earth

Ere 't is dark in clouds above.
Cherish no more a cypress tree

To shade thy future years,
Nor nurse a heart-flame that must be

Quenched only with thy tears.

Halleck.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 59

ELDER. Class 5. Order 3. Indigonoua to Anier-

Sambucus ni«er ica> Kur°Pe and India- flowers milk.

» white; berries dark purple, medicinal.
and so are the leaves and bark.

COMPASSION.

The healing Elder, like compassion mild,
Lifts her meek flowers amid the pathless wild.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

The fields for thee have no medicinal leaf,

Nor the vexed ore a mineral of power;
And they who loved thee wait in anxious grief —
******

- Death should come
Gently to one of gentle mould, like thee,
As light winds, wandering through groves of bloom,

Detach the delicate blossoms from the tree.
Close thy sweet eyes calmly and without pain,
And we will trust in God to see thee yet again.

BryanL

ANSWER.

My hour has come, I lay me down,

With the dark grave in view;
And, hoping for a heavenly crown,

I bid the world adieu.
*****
I dreamed of tortures in death's hour,

Of fevered brain and limb,
And of unearthly forms that lower,

When the eye waxes dim.
My dreams in death have other mouHs,

Forms beautiful and bright
Are with inc. —

Jontt.

60 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

EVERLASTING. Class 19. Order 2. An extensive genm
/2___L „;,•. ., mostly indigenous to the Cape of Good

bnaplwbum. Hope' but j?ound ^ Europe ^ /Vjuerica>

The American lias white flowers.
ALWAYS REMEMBERED.

Gnaphalium, like the thoughts we love,
Can every change and season prove.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

I think of thee, when morning springs

From sleep with plumage bathed in dew,
And like a young bird lifts her wings

Of gladness on the welkin blue;
And when at noon the breath of love

O'er flower and stream is wandering free,
And sent in music from the grove,

I think of thee — I think of thee.

I think of thee, when soft and wide

The evening spreads her robes of light,
And, like a young and timid bride,

Sits blushing in the arms of night:
And when the moon's sweet crescent springs

In light o'er heaven's deep waveless sea,
And stars are forth like blessed things,

I think of thee — I think of thee.

6. W. PJ entice.

ANSWER.

I would not hush that constant theme

Of hope and reverie,
For every day and nightly dream,
Whose lights across my dark brain gleam,

Is filled with thee.

Atlantic Souvenir, 1832.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 61

FLAX. Clou 4. Order 5. An extensive genus— the

Linum American aud European species similar. Flow-

en blue; sometimes yellow.

DOMESTIC INDUSTRY.

Inventress of the woof, fair Lina flings

The flying shuttle through the dancing strings,

Inlays the broidered weft with flowery dyes.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

T is happily contrived that man is made
With tastes and powers of ever-varying shade;
Hence every one the other's wants subserves,
And each her own peculiar praise deserves;
As well the housewife 'neath the humble roof,
Plying the wheel, and laboring warp and woof,
As the gay charmer, mistress of the heart,
Who plays in higher life a brighter part:
But she above all competition towers,
Who adds to other gifts high mental powers—
This is the friend, in all the scenes of life,
The kind companion, and the loving wife.

E. Lineolf

62 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

FIR. (BalmofGilead.) Clau2l. Order 16.

Pinux hahnmea A Senus con8*1"1* of near 40 "pec»««.

itw, oau tea. found ^ Europe> Nprth Anierica> Bar-

bary, India and China.
TIME.

4nd Fir, from which the wand of Time is framed.

Anon,

SENTIMENT.

When summer's sunny hues adorn

Sky, forest, hill and meadow,
The foliage of the evergreen

In contrast seems a shadow.

But when the tints of autumn have

Their sober reign asserted,
The landscape that cold shadow shows

Into a light converted.

Thus thoughts that frown upon our mirth

Will smile upon our sorrow,
ind many dark fears of to-day

May be bright hopes to-morrow.

Pinckiuy.

FLORA 8 INTERPRETER. 33

FLOWER OF AN HOUR. Clan 16. OrAxrl. A tropical

ffytto., <riom,m. SK£^Sitrf£:

are splendid.

DELICATE BEAUTY.

Why art thou doomed, sweet flower 1
Is it because thy beauty is too bright,

Thou hast but one short hour
To spread thy fair leaves to the enamored light ?

'T is thus the loved and loveliest first decay —

But their remembrance may not pass away.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

The lily may die on thy cheek,

With freshness no longer adorning;
The rose that envelopes its whiteness may seek

To take back her mantle of morning;
Yet still will Love's tenderness beam from thine eye,
And ask for that homage no heart can deny.

Thy dark hair may blanch where it bends

Over eyes of cerulean hue,
That melt with the softness the summer-noon lends

To mellow her pathway of blue ;
Yet long will the smile that illumines thy brow
Live on, as it lives in thy loveliness now.

Dawn.

ANSWER.

The spirit hath a chord that clings

To lights that fade and waste ;
And places trust in fragile things,

That should on God be placed.

Mr*. L. P. Smith.

64 FLORA'S INTERPRETER

FLOWERING REED. (Cane.) Clatt I. Order 1

Canna augusti folia. J?und b lli° «»u.thB™ s*tc*

o •/ The canna of Jussieu has splen-

did flowers; grows chirlh within
the tropics.

CONFIDENCE IN HEAVEN.

First the tall Canna lifts his curled brow
Erect to heaven.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

The recollection of one upward hour
Hath more in it to tranquillize and cheer
The darkness of despondency, than years
Of gayety and pleasure.

Per deal.

ANSWER.

They waken,

Such thoughts as these, an energy,
A spirit that will not be shaken

Till frail mortality shall die.
They make man nobler than his race,

And give expansion, strength, to thought:
The tears that start leave not a trace,

For they are fragrant tears, and fraught
With soothing power; they heal and bless

Thy spirit in its loneliness.

Willi*.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 65

FORGET-ME-NOT. ?7<W?A Order I. A species of

Viola cucula.

TRUE LOVE.

And faith, that a thousand ills can brave,
Speaks in thy blue leaves, 'Forget-me-not.'

Ptrcival.

SENTIMENT.

Where flows the fountain silently,

It blooms a lovely flower,
Blue as the beauty of the sky ;
It speaks like kind fidelity,

Through fortune's sun and shower,
' Forget-me-not. '

T is like thy starry eyes, more bright

Than evening's proudest star;
Like purity's own halo light,
It seems to smile upon thy sight,

And says to thee from far —
' Forget-me-not.'

Each dew-drop on its morning leaves

Is eloquent as tears,

That whisper, when young passion grieves
For one beloved afar, and weaves
His dream of hopes and fears —
'Forget-me-not.'

HalUck.
6«

66 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

FOX-GLOVE. Class 14. Order 2. A native of Europ*

Digitalis Flowers crimson purple ; sometime*

^ white or yellow.

INSINCERITY.

The hollow Fox-glove nods beneath.

9mitk.

SENTIMENT.
The Lady to her Lover.

Thon art fickle as the sea, thou art wandering as the wind,
And the restless, ever-mounting flame is not more hard to bind.
If the tears I shed were tongues, yet all too few would be
To tell of all the treachery that thou hast shown to me.
Bat it wearies me, mine enemy, that I must weep, and bear
What fills thy heart with triumph, and fills my own with care.
'T was the doubt that thou wert false, that wrung my heart with

pain;

But now I know thy perfidy, I shall be well again:
I would proclaim thee as thou art, but every maiden knows
That she who chides her lover, forgives him ere he goes.

Bryant.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 67

GERANIUM. Clou 16. Order 7. A very extensive ge-
Pela«orium. ?u"' P'"1™!*1''? E«"»P<M». but found in Amen,
ica and Africa. Tlio African species is uiuch
the must beautiful and must cultivated.

GENTILITY.

And genteel Geranium,
With a leaf for all who come.

Hunt,

The characteristic of true gentility is the talent to
discern the feelings of those around us, and the tact
to please each one by appropriate attentions. As
tin- GeramwM offers so large a variety of species to
gratify every taste, it is appropriately called genteel.
I sliall give the interpretations which have been
affixed to a few of the species: the authority by
which these have been bestowed, must be in the
general application of the one quoted above.

68 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

GERANIUM, NUTMEG. The class and order being in all
P. Odoratissimum. the •""•• repetition i» unneccs-

sary. There are some differ-
ence* which I shall notice. In
this species the pedules are sub-
5-flowered; leaves round and
very soft.

AN EXPECTED MEETING.

SENTIMENT.

O! now 's the hour, when air is sweet,

And birds are all in tune,
To seek with me the cool retreat

In bright and merry June;
When every rose-bush has a nest,

And every thorn a flower,
And every thing on earth is blest

This sweet and holy hour.
And we will wander far away

Along the flowery vale,
Where winds the brook its sparkling play,

And freshly blows the gale.

Percival.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 69

GERANIUM, SCARLET. Umbels many-flowered ;leavw
P. Inquinans. " r<niform' FIowen>

CONSOLATION.

SENTIMENT.

Why shouldst thou weep? Around thee glows

The purple light of youth,
And all thy looks the calm disclose

Of innocence and truth.
Nay, weep not while thy sun shines bright,

And cloudless is thy day, *
Whilst past and present joys unite

To cheer thee on thy way ;
While fond companions round thee move,

To youth and nature true,
And friends whose looks of anxious love

Thy every step pursue.

Common-Place Book of Poetrj

ANSWER.

The hue of death is cast o'er every thing ;

And ram/i/ is marked on all I see!

On all? Oh no! one blessed sign appears!

If Heaven will take

A heart that earth has crushed, form it anew,
And light it from on high, I offer mine,
Not without shame that all things else were tried,
Before the only balm.

H. F. Omdd.

70 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

GERANIUM^ OAK. Umbels sub-many-flowered. Flow-
P. Quem/Ottum. empale blue.

TRUE FRIENDSHIP.

SENTIMENT.

When thou art near,
The sweetest joys still sweeter seem,

The brightest hopes more bright appear,
And life is all one happy dream,

When thou art near.

„ Robert Swtney

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 71

GERANIUM, MOURNING. Umbels simple; leaves rough-
haired, pinnate. Flowers dark
green.

DESPONDENCE

SENTIMENT.

Sorrow treads heavily, and leaves behind
A deep impression, e'en when she departs:
While joy trips by with steps light as the wind,
And scarcely leaves a trace upon our hearts
Of her faint foot-falls: only this is sure,
In this world nought, save misery, can endure.

Mr». Embury.

ANSWER.

Lone Minstrel of the pensive lyre,

O' Jet not grief attune thy lay;
For sadness blights each holier fire,

And scatters gloom o'er all thy way.
Then, Minstrel, when thy heart is sad,

Betake thee to the flowery field,
Where beauty walks in young spring clad,

And hope and joy their influence yield.
Then tell me, is there nought that cheers

Amid these pure and lovely things?
No solace in this vale of tears,

From which some little comfort springs?

Mist Stella Phelp*

72 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

GERANIUM, ROSE. Umbels many-flowered, stem dif
P. Camtatum. fT' JFlowere rose-scented, and

« colored.

PREFERENCE.

SENTIMENT.

I have cherished

A love for one whose beauty would have charmed
In Athens. And I know what 't is to love
A spiritual beauty, and behind the foil
Of an unblemished loveliness, still find
Charms of a higher order, and a power
Deeper and more resistless. Had I found
Such thoughts and feelings, such a clear deep streaj
Of mind in one whom vulgar men had thrown
As a dull pebble from them, I had loved
Not with a love less fond, nor with a flame
Of less devotion.

Percival.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 73

GERANIUM, LEMON. P™^1? ab?nt 5-flowered, leaves
P. Jicerifolium.

TRANQUILLITY OF MIND.

SENTIMENT.

There is a gentle element, and man
May breathe it with a calm unruffled soul,
And drink its living waters, till his heart
Is pure, — and this is human happiness.

Go abroad

Upon the paths of nature, and when all
Its voices whisper, and its silent things
Are breathing the deep beauty of the world,
Kneel at its simple altar, and the God,
Who hath the living waters, shall be there.

PPBtfe

74 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

GERANIUM, IVY.
P. Peltatum.

BRIDAL FAVOR.

SENTIMENT.

I saw two clouds at morning

Tinged with the rising sun,
And in the dawn they floated on,

And mingled into one:
I thought that morning cloud was blest,

It moved so sweetly to the west.

I saw two summer currents

Flow smoothly to their meeting,
And join their course with silent force,

In peace each other greeting.
Calm was their course tlinmirti banks of green,

While dimpling eddies played between.

Such be your gentle motion,

Till life's last pulse shall heat;
Like summer's beam and summer's stream,

Float on in joy to meet
A calmer sea, where storms shall cease —

A purer sky, where all is peace.

Br ainar d.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 75

GERANIUM, SILVER-LEAVED. The beautiful leaf of
P. Argtntifolium. 2^22?°"

RECALL,

SENTIMENT.

My heart is with its early dream;

And vainly love's soft power
Would seek to charm that heart anew

In some unguarded hour;
I would not that the worldly ones

Should hear my frequent sigh;
The deer that hears its death-wound, turns

In loneliness to die.

Mrt. Embury.

ANSWER.

I come, I ronic! Why should I rove

A dreary world like this,
When a voice !>clo\od recalls me back,

To share life's all of bliss?
I come, I come! like the weary bird,

At eve to its sheltered nest;
Like the pilgrim from afar, I come

To a blessed shrine of rest.

76 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

GTLLY-FLOWER. c/«*«i5. Or//« 2. Fonnd in

incunus. 'Ilf' '_.. ™r A.-..'

Flowers bright red, purple, 01
white.

SHE IS FAIR.

Fair as the Gilly-flower of garden's sweet.

Gay.

SENTIMENT.

Why was the sense of beauty lent to man, —
The feeling of fine forms, the taste of soul,
That speaks from eye and lip, and thus will fan
Love in the young beholder?

Pereivol.

ANSWER.

Oh! it is worse than mockery

To list tlie flatterer's tone,
To lend a ready ear to thoughts

The cheek must blush to own —
To hear the red lip whispered of,

And the flowing curl and eye
Made constant themes of eulogy,

Extravagant and high, —
And the charm of person worshipped,

In a homage offered not
To the perfect charm of virtue,

And the majesty of thought

/. O. Whittitr

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 77

GOLDEN ROD. Clau\9. Order 2. The Solidago

F^TuTtdl tue°StLtLr
ENCOURAGEMENT.

The Golden Rod, that blossoms in the wild,
Whispers a tale of Hope to Fancy's child.

Anon.

SENTIMEiNT.

We met, and we drank from the crystalline well,
That flows from the fountains of science above;
On the beauties of thought we would silently dwell,
Till e looked — though we never were talking of love

Percival.

ANSWER.

1 could not bid those visions spring

Less frequently;

For each wild phantom which they bring,
Moving along on fancy's wing,

But pictures thee.

Atlantic Souvenir, 18S2

78 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

GRAPE, WILD. Class 5. Order). North America has

Vitis, vinifera. ma">' 8pocics of ,wiltl srapc , ,l,hou*h the

' •/ vinifera is not indigenous. Flowers nu-

merous, small, green and fragrant.

MIRTH.

Let dimpled Mirth his temples twine
With tendrils of the laughing Vine.

Scott.

SENTIMENT.

I heard the gushirg of thy voice,

Thy laugh of happy mirth —
A bright fount in a pleasant place,

To cheer the shaded earth.
I caught the glancing of thine eye,

Its gleam of young delight —
A sunbeam on a dewy bank,

Each floweret's eye to light.
And all the poet's spoil can give

Is in this simple prayer,
That no chill wind of sen-row come

To ice the fountain there.
That no dark cloud of grief may rise

The pleasant glance to shade;
But that pure stream of joy gusli on,

That sun-gleam never fade.

Miller.

FLORA 3 INTERPRETER - 79

(jRASS. Class 3. Orrfer 2. There are more tl an 300

Grumina. 8P'!CM;s °f (lf ••<<*'!>. They constitute, uo-onliug
to I.iima-us .-ili.sut a sixth part of all the vegeta-
bles on the globe.

SUBMISSION.

Grass, according to Herodotus, was the symbol of
submission, because the ancient nations of the West,
to sliow that they confessed themselves overcome,
gathered grass, and presented it to the conqueror.
(See note to Book 4, Melpomene.)

SENTIMENT.

O, when affliction's friendly screen
Shuts out life's vain illusive scene —
When thus she seals our weary eyes
To all its glittering vanities,
A gleam of heavenly light will pour
Our dark despairing spirits o'er,
And Faith, with mirk, submissive eye,
Far glancing through eternity,

s where the heavenly mansions rise,
Of her bright home beyond the skies;
Whose golden fanes sublimely tower
High o'er the clouds that round us lower.
Then welcome sorrow's shrouding shade;
Fade — scenes of earthly splendor, fade!
And leave me to the dawning ray,
Which brightens till the 'perfect day.'

American Ladiet' Magazine, Vol. I

80 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

HAREBELL. Clan 6. Order 1. Found

Campanula, rotundifoKa. Jft ft £ffl Y£

en blue and nodding.
GRIEF.

The Harebell — as if with grief depressed,
Bowing her fragrance.

Gitborne.

SENTIMENT.

Yet thou, didst thou but know my fate,

Wouldst melt, my tears to see;
And I, methinks, would weep the less,

Wouldst thou but weep with me.

Percival.

ANSWER.

Alas, for earthly joy, and hope, and love,

Thus stricken down, e'en in their holiest hour!

What deep, heart-wringing anguish must they prove,
Who live to weep the blasted tree or flower.

Oh, wo, deep wo to earthly love's fond trust,
When all it once has worshipped lies in dust!

Mr*. Embury.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 81

HAWTHORN. C/o*»12. Or,ler2. Principally a North

American genus, but found in Europe,
the Levant, and India. Flowers scarlet.

.

And Hawthorn's early blooms appear,
Like youthful hope upon life's year.

D

SENTIMENT.

Gay was the love of paradise he drew

And pictured in his fancy; he did dwell

Upon it till it had a life; he threw

A tint of heaven athwart it — who can tell

The yearnings of his heart, the charm, the spell,

That bound him to that vision?

PtreivaL

ANSWER.

Hidden, and deep, and never dry, —

Or flowing, or at rest,
A living spring of hope doth lie

In every human breast.
All else may fail that soothes the heart,—-

All, save that fount alone;
With that and life at once we part,

For life and hope are one.

Mrt.

82 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

HEART'S EASE. Class 5. Order 1. The genns Viola

Vinln trirnlnr a almost equally divided between

yiOla, tricolor. Europe and North America. Flower*

blue, purple, white, and every variety

of color.

LOVE IN IDLENESS.

This flower (as Nature's poet sweetly sings)

Was once milk-white, and Heart's Ease was its name,

Till wanton Cupid poised his roseate wings,

A vestal's sacred bosom to inflame.

Heart's Ease no more the wandering shepherd found;

No more the Nymphs its snowy form possess;

Its white now changed to purple by Love's wound—

Heart's Ease no more, 't is ' Love in Idleness.'

Mrs. R. B. Sheridan.

SENTIMENT.

As we look back through life in our moments of madness,
How few, and how brief are its gloamings of gladness;
Yet we find, midst the gleam that our pathway o'er-

shaded,

A few spots of sunshine, — a few flowers unfaded: —
And memory still hoards, as her richest of treasures,
Some moments of rapture, — some exquisite pleasures.
One hour of such bliss is a life ere it closes,
T is one drop of fragrance from thousands of roses.

Wetmore.
ANSWER.

They tell me the vision of bliss that is glinting,
My heart's star of promise in gloom will decline,

And the fair scene that Fancy, the fairy, is tinting,
Will lose all its sunny glow ere it is mine.

O, if Love and Life be but a fairy illusion,

And the cold future bright but in Fancy 's young eye,

Still, let me live in the dreamy delusion,

And, true and unchanging, hope on till I die.

Mrt. Osgood

FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

HELIOTROPE. (Tumsol.) Class 6. Order 1. Thia

Heliotrovium «enu8 b P"00'^11/ found in South

troj«« America, a few in the south of Europe,

and in India. Flowers white, or faint
purple color. Turns towards the sun.

DEVOTION.

Still the loved object the fond leaves pursue ;
Still move their root the morning sun to view;
And in the Heliotrope the Nymph is true.

Eusden't Ovid.

SENTIMENT.

When other friends are round thee,

And other hearts are thine;
When other bays have crowned thee,

More fresh and green than mine; —
Then think how sad and lonely

This wretched heart will be;
Which, while it beats — beats only,

Beloved one! for thee.

Yet do not think I doubt thee;

I know thy truth remains;
I would not live without thee,

For all the world contains.
Thou art the star that guides me

Along life's troubled sea; —
Whatever fate betides me,

This heart still turns to thee.

G. P. Morn*.

84 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

HELLEBORE. C/««1S. OnlerlS. Found in the

America. Flowers greenish.

CALUBIKY.

By the witches' tower,

Where Hellebore and Hemlock seem to weave
Round its dark vaults a melancholy bower.

Campbell.

SENTIMENT.

Curse the tongue

Whence slanderous rumor, like the adder's drop,
Distils her venom, withering friendship's faith,
Turning love's favor.

Htilhoute.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 85

HOLLY. Class 4. Order 4. A beautiful everjjreen tree,

f/-_ found in Europe, Japan, America, etc. It lias

eliinum, prickly loaves near the gruuml; Hiuooth

higli ones; white flowers, und berries scarlet

color.

DOMESTIC HAPPINESS.

Gentle at home, amid my friends, 1 'd be,
Like the high leaves upon the Holly tree.

Southey.

SENTIMENT.

Oh! could I one dear being find,
And were her fate to mine but joined

By Hymen's silken tie,
To her myself, my all I 'd give,
For her alone delighted live,

For her consent to die.
Should gathering clouds our sky deform,
My arms should shield her from the storm;

And were its fury hurled,
My bosom to its bolts I 'd bare,
In her defence undaunted dare

Defy the opposing world.
Together should our prayers ascend,
Together humbly would we bend,

To praise the Almighty's name;
And when I saw her kindling eye
Beam upward to her native sky,

My soul should catch the flame.
Thus nothing should our hearts divide,
But on our years serenely glide,

And all to love be given;
And, when life's little scene was o'er,
We 'd part, to meet and part no more,

But live and love in heaven.

Frubit
8

FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

HOLLY-HOCK. Clastie. Order 13. A native of China,

Jllren rn<n>n Africa, Madras, and Siberia. Flowers

'ea"> TC a variety of colors; single and double

. flowers

AMBITION.

Aspiring Alcea emulates the rose.

Evant.

SENTIMENT.

Would I were in some lonely desert born,

And 'neath the sordid roof my being drew;
Were nursed by poverty the most forlorn,

And ne'er one ray of hope or pleasure knew;
Then had my soul been never taught to rise,

Then had I never dreamed of power or fame;
No pictured scene of bliss deceived my eyes,

Nor glory lighted in my breast its flame.

Percival.

ANSWER.

Yet, press on!

For it shall make you mighty among men;
And from the eyrie of your eagle thought,
Ye shall look down on monarchs. Oh! press on!
For the high ones and powerful shall come
To do you reverence; and the beautiful
Will know the purer language of your soul,
And read it like a talisman of love.
Press on! for it is godlike to unloose
The spirit, and forget yourself in thought;
Bending a pinion for the deeper sky,
And, in the very fetters of your flesh,
Mating with the pure essences of heaven.
Press on! for in the grave there is no work,
And no device. — Press on! while yet ye may.

WUlu

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 87

HONESTY. (Satin Flower.) Clou 15. Order 1.

whitish.

FASCINATION.

Enchanting Lunaria here lies,
In sorceries excelling.

Drayton.

SENTIMENT.

She 's beautiful! — Her raven curls
Have broken hearts in envious girls; —
And then they sleep in contrast so,
Like raven feathers upon snow,
And bathe her neck — and shade the bright
Dark eye from which they catch the light,
As if their graceful loops were made
To keep that glorious eye in shade,
And holier make its tranquil spell,
Like waters in a shaded well.
She 's noble — noble, one to keep
Embalmed for dreams of fevered sleep.
An eye for nature — taste refined,
Perception swift — and balanced mind, —
And, more than all, a gift of thought
To such a spirit fineness wrought,
That on my ear her language fell
As if each word dissolved a spell.

Wtilu.

88 FLORA S INTERPRETER.

HONEY FLOWER. Class 14. Order 1. Indigenous to

I //>/;/!» //.no t"0 Cape of Good Hope. Only

Mehanthus. ^

pink, and chocolate. Nectarioua.
MY LOVE IS SWEET AND SECRET.

Mdianihus with its nectar store,

Hoarded for those who shall deserve the dower.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

I found thee yet a modest dower,

An infant of the spring,
Unheeded in the rosy crowd

Of beauty, blossoming.
And little didst thou think how cleai

Thy spirit round me shone,
To light the inward joy of hope

My tongue could never own.

ANSWER.

But they say that the garland affection is wreathing

Will fade ere the morrow has wakened its bloom ;

They say the wild blossoms where young Hope is breathing,

Their beauty, their fragrance, is all for the tomb.

Mrt. Otgood.

FLORA S INTERPRETER. 89

HONEYSUCKLE, CORAL. c/asss. Order i. Found

Lonicera, sempervirens. in/uroft a{£ 'h° ^

Indies. The Wild Honey-
Buckle is a splendid North
American genus. Flow-
ers white, red, scarlet and
yellow.

FIDELITY.

The Honeysuckle flower I give to thee,
And love it for my sake, my own Cyane ;
It hangs upon the stem it loves, as thou
Hast clung to me in every joy and sorrow.

Cornwall.

SENTIMENT.

I loved thee — not because thy brow
Was bright and beautiful as day,
Nor that on thy sweet lip the glow
Was joyous as yon sunny ray.
No : though I saw thee fairest far,
The sun that hid each meaner star,
Yet 't was not this that taught me first
The love that silent tears have nursed.
And now could ever beauty wane,
Till not one noble trace remain ;
Could genius sink in dull decay,
And wisdom cease to lend her ray :
Should all that I have worshipped, change,
Even this could not my heart estrange ;
Thou still wouldst be the first, the first
That taught the love sad tears have nursed.

Mn. Embury.
8*

90 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

HONEYSUCKLE, WILD. clou 5. Order i. This
Azaka* procumbent. «Pec;esj 80 mud! "tcc"»->d

7 • for the beauty and fragrance

of its flower, exists ch'u.-Ily
in North America. Mowers
yellow, red, and scarlet.

INCONSTANCY.

Inconstant Honeysuckle, wherefore rove
With gadding stem about my bower?

Carew.

SENTIMENT.

My love was centred all in thee;

With thought of thee my every hope was blended ;
But, as the shadows flit along the sea,

My dreams have vanished, and my vision ended :
And when thy lover leads thee to the altar,
My cheek shall never blanch, nor my voice falter.

Earewell! my lip may wear a careless smile —
My words may breathe the very soul of lightness;

But the touched heart must deeply feel the while,
That life has lost a portion of its brightness:

And woman's love shall never be a chain

To bind me to its nothingness again.

Sargent.

ANSWER.

Life hath as many farewells,

As it hath sunny hours;
And over some are scattered thorns,

And over others, flowers.

Mrt. L. P. Smith.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 91

HoUSTONlA. (American Daisy.) Class 4. Order 1.

Iloustonia. ^T"1 cl""'r "' tho, Unilei, Sui(;9' ^

dolicate and pretty plant. Flowers pale
blue, (irows on a nuked, sli-ndcr foot-
stalk, only u tew inches in height.

CONTENT.

Sweet flower, thou tellest how hearts
As pure and tender as thy leaf — as low
And humble as thy stein, will surely know
The joy that peace imparts.

Ptrcival

SENTIMENT.

Blest are the pure and simple hearts,

Unconsciously refined,
By the free gifts that Heaven imparts

Through nature to the mind;
Not all the pleasures wealth can buy
Equal their happy destiny.

For them the spring unfolds her flowers,

For them the summer glows;
And autumn's gold and purple bowers,

.And winter's stainless snows
Come gifted with a charm to them,
Richer than monarch's diadem.

Mrt. Wtllt.

ANSWER.

Happy the life, that in a peaceful stream,
Obscure, unnoticed through the vale has flowed;
The heart that ne'er was charmed by fortune's gleam
Is ever sweet contentment's blest abode.

PercivaL

92 FLORA'S INTERPRETER

HYACINTH, BLUE. Class 6. Order 1. An European
Hyacinth^. f nus> J« cultivated in our gar

* dens. Flowers bell-form.

CONSTANCY.

The Hyacinth's for constancy,
Wi' its unchanging blue.

Burnt.

SENTIMENT.

•

Woman ! blest partner of our joys and woes !
Even in the darkest hour of earthly ill,
Untarnished yet thy fond affection glows,
Throbs with each pulse, and beats with every thrill !
Bright o'er the wasted scene thou hoverest still,
Angel of comfort to the failing soul ;
Undaunted by the tempest, wild and chill,
That pours its restless and disastrous roll
O'er all that blooms below, with sad and hollow howl

When sorrow rends the heart, when feverish pain
Wrings the hot drops of anguish from the brow,
To soothe the soul, to cool tbe burning brain,
O ! who so welcome and so prompt as thou ?
The battle's hurried scene and angry glow, —
The death-encircled pillow of distress, —
The lonely moments of secluded wo —
Alike thy care and constancy confess,
Alike thy pitying hand, and fearless friendship bleaa.

Yamoyden.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 93

HYACINTH, PURPLE. Clan 6. Order 1. Corolan-

SORROW.

A Hyacinth lifted its purple bell

From the slender leaves around it ;

It curved its cup in a flowing swell,

And a starry circle crowned it ;

The deep blue tincture that robed it seemed

The gloomiest garb of sorrow,

As if on its eye no brightness beamed,

And it never in clearer moments dreamed

Of a fair and calm to-morrow.

Percival.

SENTIMENT

When the cold breath of sorrow is sweeping

O'er the chords of the youthful heart,
And the earnest eye, dimmed with strange weeping,

Sees the visions of fancy depart;
When the bloom of young feeling is dying,

And the heart throbs with passion's fierce strife,
When our sad days are wasted in sighing,

Who then can find sweetness in life?

Mrs. Embury.

ANSWER.

That heart, methinks,

Were of strange mould, which kept no cherished print
Of earlier, happier times, when life was fresh,
And love and innocence made holyday:
Or, that owned

No transient sadness, when a dream, a glimpse
Of fancy touched past joys.

Hillhouu.

94 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

HYDRANGEA. Class 10. Order 2. An Ameri-

Hydrangea, hortensis. ™ JS^^SS!^^

in India. Flowers rose color —
sometimes blue. It has many
abortive flowers.

HEARTLESSNESS.

If thou canst search Hydrangea's flowers,

And note which first decay,
Then mayst thou judge the hollow smiles

That flatter to betray.

4fton.

SENTIMENT.

Maiden go! .if thou hast lost
All that made thee once so dear,
Let not now our parting cost
Thee a sigh, or me a tear:
Go with Fashion's heartless train; —
Go where Wealth and pleasure wait; —
Seek them all, nor seek in vain; —
Go, and leave me to my fate.

Maiden go! — a saddened brow
Haply serves but to conceal:
Tears, methinks, are idle now, —
Waste them not, unless you feel
If your bosom is too cold
Still to prize a loyal heart, —
If you value sullen gold
More than love, 't is best we part:
Go! — and vhen your heart has learned
How love flies the courtly door,
Learn that true affections spurned,
Droop to death, and bloom no more

J\~etc England Magazine, Vol. IL

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 95

ICE PLANT. Clan 12- Order 5. An En-

.toem6n,an(iemum, ^"S^.^

crystallinwn. color.

AN OLD BEAU.

With pellucid studs the Ice-Flower gems
His rimy foliage, and his candied stems.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

Last days of my youth! ye are come, ye are come,
And the tints of life's morning will soon fade away;
I once vainly fancied my cheek's purple bloom,
Immortal as angels, would never decay;
Nor can I believe the cold words of my tonguo,
When it falters that I am no more to be young.

No wonder! for who could unmoved bid adieu
To love's kindling raptures warm youth only knows;
And, on the world's dim awful threshold to view
The opening scenes of his joys or his woes,
Who gazes — nor sighs, with a heart deeply wrung —
Why can we not always be blooming and young?

/. H. AicAo/i.

ANSWER.

Yes, the summer of life passes swiftly away,
Soon the winter of age sheds its snow on the heart;
But the warm sun of friendship that gilded youth's day
Shall still through the dark clouds a soft ray impart
(Atlantic Sinitenir.) Alhton Gibbs.

96 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

IRIS. (Flower de Luce.) Order 3. Clatt 1.

Iris cristdtd. Found in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North

America. Flowers of various colors.

MY COMPLIMENTS.

The various Iris Juno sends with haste.

Ovid.

SENTIMENT.

I send this flower to one made up

Of loveliness alone;
A woman of her gentle sex

The seeming paragon;
To whom the better elements

And kindly stars have given
A form so fair, that, like the air,

T is less of earth than heaven.

Affections are as thoughts to her,

The measure of her hours;
Her feelings have the fragrancy,

The freshness of young flowers. —
O would that on the earth there moved

Others of such a frame,
That life might be all poetry,

And weariness a name.

E. C. Pinckney,

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 97

IVY. Class 5. Order 1. The Ivy is found in all

Hedera countries, but the Hedera helix is the common

European Ivy. Flowers green; berries globular

and black.

WEDDED LOVE.

Yes, woman's love 's a holy light,
And when 't is kindled, ne'er can die;
It lives, though treachery and slight
To quench its constancy may try;
Like Ivy, where to cling 't is seen,
It wears an everlasting green.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

The Ivy round some lofty pile

Its twining tendril flings;
Though fled from thence be pleasure's smile,

It yet the fonder clings;
As lonelier still becomes the place,
The warmer is its fond embrace,

More firm its verdant rings;
As if it loved its shade to rear
O'er one devoted to despair.

Thus shall my bosom cling to thine,

Unchanged by gliding years;
Through Fortune's rise, or her decline,

In sunshine, or in tears;
And though between us oceans roll,
And rocks divide us, still my soul

Shall feel no jealous fears:
Confiding in a heart like thine,
Love's uncontaminated shrine.

Anon. (Albany Advertiser.)

FLORA 8 INTERPRETER

JASMINE. WHITE. Class 2. Order 1. Native of

**-

AMIABILITY.

From plants that wake while others sleep,
From timid Jasmine buds that keep
Their odors to themselves all day,
But when the sunlight dies away,
Let their delicious secret out.

Moore.

SENTIMENT.

She .

Attracts me with her gentle virtues, soft
And beautiful, and heavenly.

Hillhoute.

ANSWER.

Thus, on the very homeliest face
Can Fancy shed her beauteous hue,
And in a tame expression trace
A smile as soft as heaven's own blue.

P. Bcnjtuni*.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 99

JASMINE, YELLOW. Class 14. Order 2. Found

sempervirens. j" lho ,K;ist. :uld lV('f 1lul"'s-

The plant is a shrub or tree,
very beautiful. Flowers l;irg.:,
various colors, red, blue, yel-
low.

GRACE AND ELEGANCE.

Jasmines, some like silver spray,
Some like gold in the morning ray,
Fragrant stars and favorites they.

Indian Bride.

SENTIMENT.

She was not very beautiful, if it be beauty's test
To match a classic model when perfectly at rest;
And she did not look bewitchingly, if witchery it be
To have a forehead and a lip transparent as the sea.

The fashion of her gracefulness was not a followed rule,
And her effervescent sprighiliness was never learnt at school;
And her words were all peculiar, like the fairies who spoke pearls,
And her tone was ever sweetest midst the cadences of girls.

Said I she was not beautiful ? Her eyes upon yonr sight
Broke with the lambent purity of planetary light ;
And on intellectual beauty, like a light within a vase,
Touched every line with glory of her animated face.

Willi*.

100 FLORA'S INTERPRETED

JONQUIL. Class 16. Order I. A native of

Atofcn., Jonguilla. ^ J« ,^3* 1»-

ers, emitting a mild and powerful
perfume.

I DESIRE A RETURN OF AFFECTION

Sweet as perfume from Jonquil flower,
That breathes in twilight grove,

Comes the remembrance of the hour
When Anna owned her love.

Awn.

SENTIMENT.

O! wilt thou go with me, love,

And seek the lonely glen?
O! wilt thou leave for me, love,

The smiles of other men?
The birds are there, aye singing,

The woods an; full of glee,
And love shall there be flinging

His roses over thee.
And wilt thou go with me, dear,

And share my humble lot?
And wilt thou live with me, dear,

Within a lowly cot ?

Ptrdval.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 101

KlNG-CUP. (Butter-cup or Crow-cup.) C7a«3. Order

Ranunculus. 13' An extl'"sive genus> of near 90 8Pe-
cics, principally European, but extending
into LJarbary uud Siberia; tlowers yulluw.

I WISH I WAS RICH.

Bright flowing King-cups promise future wealth,
And fairies, now no doubt unseen,

In silent revels sup;
With dew-drop bumpers toast their queen,

From croio-Jloioers' golden cup.

Clare.

SENTIMENT.

O, knew I the spell of gold,

I would never poison a fresh young heart

With the taint of customs old.
I would hind no wreath to inv forehead free,

In whose shadow a thought might die,
Nor dfink, from the cup 01 revelry,

The ruin my gold would buy.
But I 'd break the fetters of care-worn things,

And be spirit and fancy free;
My mind should go up where it longs to go,

And tne limitless wind outflee.
I M climb to the eyries of eagle men,

Till the stars became a scroll,
And pour right on, like the even sen,

In the strength of a governed soul.

Willit.
ANSWER.

I would never kneel at a gilded shrine

To worship the idol gold:
I would never fetter this heart of mine

As a thing for fortune sold.
But I 'd how to the light that God has given,

The nobler light of mind;
The only light, save that of Heaven,

That should free-will homage find.

9* Mrt. L, P. Smitk.

102 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

LABURNUM. Clastn. Order 4. A genus ofabont 12

CvtlSUS species; six of which belong to America.

" Flowers purplish or yellow.

PENSIVE BEAUTY.

When the dark-leaved Laburnum's drooping cluster
Reflects athwart the stream their yellow lustre, —
Like pensive beaut/ at her sweet devotions.

SENTIMENT.

Thy mild looks are all eloquent,

Thy bright ones free and glad,
Like glances from a pleiad sent,

Thy sad ones sweetly sad;
And when a tear is in thine eye,

To witch with sorrow's spell,
O, none may pass thee idly by,

My own sweet Rosabelle.

Bright dreams attend thee, gentle one,

The brightest and the best ;
For sorrows scarce can fall upon

A maid so purely blest.
And when death's shadows round thee swell,

And dim thy starry eyes,
O, mayst thou be, my Rosabelle,

A spirit of the skies

Robert Morris.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 109

LADY'S SLIPPER. Clan 20. Order 2. A very small
Cypripedium 8<!nus; 6 8Pccics found 'm North

^W i?™ America; 3 in Siberia; one in Japan,

and one in Europe. Flowers pur-
plish, pink, yellow, etc.

CAPRICIOUS BEAUTY.

The Cypripedium with her changeful hues,
As she were doubtful which array to choose.

Jlnon.

SENTIMENT.

I love not thee, — I would sooner bind

My thoughts to the open sky:
I would worship as soon a familiar star,

That is bright to every eye.
T were to love the wind that is sweet to all —

The wave of the beautiful sea —
T were to hope for all the light in heaven,

To hope for the love of thee.

WiUu.

ANSWER.

I 'm weary of the crowded ball: I 'm weary of the mirth,
Which never lifts itself above the grosser things of earth.
I 'm weary of the flatterer's tone; its music is no more,
And eye and lip may answer not its meaning as before:
I 'm weary of the heartless throng, of being deemed aa one
Whose spirit kindles only in the blaze of fashion's sun.

I speak in very bitterness, for I have deeply felt
The mockery of the hollow shrine at which my spirit knelt
Mine is the requiem of years in reckless folly passed,
The wail above departed hopes on a frail venture cast;
The vain regret that steals above the wreck of squandered hours
I-ike the sighing of the autumn wind over the faded flowers.

/. O. Whitiier.

104 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

LARKSPUR. (Donble-flowercd.) Class 13. Order 3. A
genus almost equally divided between Si-

. ^ ^ ^ ;oulhjof Europe Nutural.

ized in North America. Flowers greenish,
white and pink; made doable by cultivation.

HAUGHTINESS.

The Larkspur, plant of ancient name,
Advanced his haughty ensign high.

Talu of the Flouxrt.

SENTIMENT.

She was like

A dream of poetry, that may not be
Written or told— exceeding beautiful !
And so came worshippers; and rank bowed down
And breathed upon her heart, as with a breath
Of pride; and bound her forehead gorgeously
With dazzling scorn, and gave unto her step
A majesty as if she trod the sea,
And the proud waves unbidden lifted her

Willit

FLOJIA 8 INTERPRETER. 105

LARKSPUR. (Single-flowered.) Clan 13. Order 3.

iim. A genu8 alnlost equally divided between

um. gib|ria and the ^ 'f Europe_a fcw

species found in America. Flowers loosely
spiked — pink color.

FICKLENESS.

There is no truth in love:
It alters with a smile of fortune's sun,
As flowers do change by culture.

Anon,

SENTIMENT.

I saw thee in the gay saloon

Of fashion's glittering mart,
Where Mammon buys what Love deplores,

Where Nature yields to Art;
And thou wert so unlike the herd

My kindling heart despised,
I could not choose but yield that heart,

Though love were sacrificed.
The smile which hung upon thy lips,

In transport with their tone,
The music of thy thoughts, which breathed

A magic theirs alone!
The looks which spake a soul so pure,

So innocent and gay,
Have passed, like other golden hopes

Of happiness, away.

ANSWER.

Unhappy he, who lets a tender heart,
Bound to him by the ties of earliest love,
Fall from him by his own neglect, and die,
Because it met no kindness.

Pirciwl.

106 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

LAUREL, AMERICAN. C/ow 10. Ordtr i. A North

Kalmin American genus. Foliage a deep

dark green ; flowers beautiful,
crimson, red, and peach blossom
color. Species numerous — called
sometimes calico-bush.

VIRTUE MAKES HER CHARMING.

But in thy form, thou Laurel green,
Fair virtue's semblance soon is seen;

In life she cheers each different stage,
Spring's transient reign, and Summer's glow,
And Autumn mild, advancing slow,

And lights the eye of age.

Monthly Anthology.

SENTIMENT.

I love to look on woman when her eye
Beams with the radiant light of charity ;
I love to look on woman when her face
Glows with religion's pure and perfect grace;
O, then to her the loveliness is given
Which thrills the heart of man like dreams of heaven.

T, C. Otit.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 107

LAUREL, MOUNTAIN. Clou 10. Order \. Found in
Rhododendron. No.rt,h. America> sibc/*« EuroP«*

and the mountains of Caucasus.

AMBITION.

The Laurel, meed of mighty conquerors
And poets sage.

Fairy Quxn.

SENTIMENT.

I loved to hear the war-horn cry,
And panted at the drum's deep roll;

And held my breath, when — flaming high —

I saw our starry banners fly,

As, challenging the haughty sky,
They went like battle o'er my soul;

For I was so ambitious then,

I burned to be the slave — of men.

******

But I am strangely altered now:

I love no more the bugle's voice —
The rushing wave — the plunging prow —
The mountain with his clouded brow,
The thunder when the blue skies bow,

And all the sons of God rejoice:
I love to dream of tears and sighs,
And shadowy hair, and half-shut eyes.

JUteAM,

108 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

LAURUSTINUS. Class 5. Order 3. Found principal

Vilitirnti'm tin tie ty m North America and Japan —

Yiburnum, tmus. ^ aro four gpecies ^ Europe

An evergreen shrub; flowers white,
sometimes tinged with red.

A TOKEN.

A Laurustinus bear

In blossoms to my love :
Its language she will hear. —

Anon. (Flora' » Dictionary.)

SENTIMENT.

So take my gift! 't is a simple flower,
But perhaps 't will wile a weary hour;
And the spirit that its light magic weaves
May touch your heart from its simple leaves —
And if these should fail, it at least will be
A token of love from me to thee.

Token for 1829.

ANSWER.

Ye may search the earth, and the shoreless deep,
For the fairest things in their cells they keep ;
Ye may gather the light of an eastern mine,
And offer it up on affection's shrine;
But ye '11 never find it cherished there
Like a simple gift, with the heart's pure prayer.
Mrs. L. P. Smith.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 109

LAVENDER. Clou 14. Order 1. Indigenous to

, spika. fiEA'SaJ

and white — quite fragrant
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.

She sent him Lavender, owning her love.

Shak*pear«.

SENTIMENT.

T is morning, yet I am not gay —
T is spring, and yet I only sigh —

My pleasures all are flown away ;
Oh ! who can tell me where or why ?

It was not so before — for bright

As summer clouds were all my dreams;

No mist could hide the rosy light,
That seemed on all to pour its beams.

In autumn, when the chill winds blew
My playmate birds all went away —

I did not weep, for well I knew
They 'd come again some happy day.

But now I 'm weary of them all,

And vaguely dream — I know not why,
Of music softer than the call

Of birds at evening whispering nigh.

Token, 1831.
10

110 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

LEMON, BLOSSOM. Cla» 13. Order I. Native of

ast, but naturalized

climate8> Flower8

;«'*»/»> t« East, but naturalized in all

, limon.

white.
DISCRETION.

Meek

As woman's wisdom, their white blossoms smile,
The promise of a golden fruitage.

Oisbomt

SENTIMENT.

How excellent is woman, when she gives
To the fine pulses of her spirit way;
Her virtues blossom daily, and pour out
A fragrance upon all who in her path
Have a blest fellowship.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 1 1 1

LtfCHEN. (Tall Moss.) Clntt 24. Order 5. These i

esare fleshy or leather-like substances, growing
on trees, and vegetating on naked rocks, draw-
ing nourishment chielly from the air.

SOLITUDE.

Retiring Lichen climbs the topmost stone,
And drinks the aerial solitude alone.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

Alone! alone! How drear it is,

Always to be alone!
In such a depth of wilderness,

The only thinking one!
The waters in their path rejoice,

The trees together sleep—
But I have not one silver voice

Upon my ear to creep.

I 'm weary of my lonely hut,

And of its blasted tree;
The very lake is like my lot,

So silent, constantly.
I 've lived amid the forest gloom,

Until I almost fear

When will the thrilling voices come

My spirit thirsts to hear?

Willi*.

ANSWER.

There 's a blest and sacred solitude,

On which the world should never intrude,

When bright to the view fond memory brings

A vision of dear departed things:

And then, as fair as the evening star,

Comes the image of friends removed afar;

And the vision that brightens through memory's tears,

In the sunshine and bustle of mirth disappears.

Mrt. Hale.

112 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

LlLAC, PURPLE. Class 2. Order 1. Indigenous tt

« • the East, the most beautiful species

nyringu. found ^ Pm]^ Fiower8 purple or

white — very fragrant
FASTIDIOUSNESS.

The Lilac varies in array — now white,
Now sanguine, and her beauteous head now set
With purple spikes, studious of ornament,
Yet, unresolved which hue she most approves,
She chose them all.

Cowper't Winter's Walk at JVbon.

SENTIMENT.

Is 't not a curse to be

Fastidiously refined —
Breathing an air whose rarity

Separates from human kind?

To be the theme of fools —

The wonder of a crowd —
Thy life-blood drawn by measured rules,

Or stunned by flatterers loud?

Ladies' Magazine, Vol. IV.

ANSWER.

I hate these darkened thoughts o'er things

All radiant with joy;
'T is suffering deep and still that wrings

Reflection's dark alloy.
Away with dreams — I will not cloud

The light of brilliant smiles;
They will find too soon a shadowy shroud,

As we tread life's gloomy aisles.

Mrs. L. P. Smith.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 113

LlLAC, WHITE. Class2. Order 1. The common

Surinva vultraris LUac ™ a native of Persia, but

J '&«•: "i"e«' naturalized in Europe and Ameri-

ca. Flowers purple and white.

YOUTHFUL INNOCENCE.

At call of early spring

Burst forth, in blossoming fragrance, Lilacs robed

In snow-white Innocence.

Mason.

SENTIMENT.

She had grown,

In her unstained seclusion, bright and pure
As a first opening Lilac, when it spreads
Its clear leaves to the sweetest dawn of May.

•And she were one on whom to fix my heart,
To sit beside me when my thoughts are sad,
And, by her tender playfulness, impart
Some of her pure joy to me.

PercivaL

ANSWER.

There is a spell in every flower,

A sweetness in each spray,
And every simple bird has power

To please me with its lay.

And there is music on the breeze
That sports along the glade;

The crystal dew-drops on the trees
Are gems by fancy made.

O, there is joy and happiness

In every thing I see,
Which bids my soul rise up and bless
The God who blesses me.

Mrs. Dinnitt.
10*

114 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

LlLT, WHITE. Class 6. Order 1. The specie*

to both hemispheres.
PURITY AND BEAUTY.

The Lily, of all the children of the spring
The palest, — fairest too, where fair ones are.

Barry Cornvxill.

SENTIMENT.

Thine is a face to look upon and pray
That a pure spirit keep thee — I would meet
With one so gentle by the streams away,
Living with nature; keeping thy pure feet
For the unfingered moss, and for the grass
Which leaneth where the gentle waters pass.
The autumn leaves should sigh thee to thy sleep ;
And the capricious April, coming on,
Awake thee like a flower; and stars should keep
A vigil o'er thee like Endymion;
And thou for very gentleness shouldst weep
As dews of the night's quietness come down.

Willi*.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 115

LlLY, YELLOW. Clan6. Order 1. The Ytllmo Lily

I iliiii i /I//P/I '9 a nntivo of Persia, naturalized in

urn, /.u/ca. Europo nnd Amcrica/

PLAYFUL GAYETY.

Ye well arrayed

Queen Lilies — and ye painted populace,
Who dwell in fields, and lead ambrosial lives.

Young

SENTIMENT.

I met a lily in the vale,

Just opened to the morning gale,

And so I stopped to gaze;
And thou art beautiful, I said —
That lily did not hide its head,
But freely forth its odors shed,

To pay me for my pruisc.

But, Ellen, there 's a lovelier thing

Than Lily, rose, or mountain spring—-
And yet it wakes my fears;

For when I praise, behold it frowns!

And when I 'd clasp, awav it bounds!

And when I 'd kneel and kiss it — zounds!
I get a slap upon my ears.

Token. 1828.

116 FLORA'S INTERPRETER

LlLY, SCARLET. Class 6. Order 1. Found in-the

Carolinicum. S.outhcrn States particularly in
the mountains, liy cultivation it
is rendered very beautiful.

HIGH-SOULED.

The wand-like Lily, which lifted up,
As a Mcenad, its radiant-colored cup,
Till the fiery star, which is in its eye,
Gazed through clear dew on the tender sky.

Shelly.

SENTIMENT.

I bring no gift of passion,

I breathe no tone of love,
But the freshness and the purity

Of a feeling far above.
I love to turn to thee, fair girl,

As one within whose heart
Earth had no stain of vanity,

And fickleness no part.

* *****

O, save to one familiar friend,

Thy heart its veil should wear,
The faithless vow be all unheard, —

The flattery wasted there ;
Heeding the homage of the vain

As lightly as some star,
Whose steady radiance changes not,

Though thousands kneel afar.

/. G. Whittier.

•FLORA'S INTERPRETER. U7

LlLT OF THE VALLEY. Class 6. Order 1. American
Convallaria, or majalis. fP6™8' » common also to
Europe — 2 species found in
Japan. Flowers generally
white, variegated with green;
a variety from Japan has violet-
colored Sowers.

DELICATE SIMPLICITY.

The Lily, in whose snow-white bells
•Simplicity delights and dwells.

Balfour.

SENTIMENT.

Fair girl! by whose simplicity

My spirit has been won
From the stern earthliness of life,

As shadows flee the sun;
I turn again to think of thee,

And half deplore the thought,
That for one instant, o'er my soul,

Forgetfulness hath wrought!
I turn to that charmed hour of hope,

When first upon my view
Came the pure sunshine of thine heart,

Borne from thine eyes of blue.
'T was thy high purity of soul —

Thy thought-revealing eye,
That placed me spell-bound at thy feet,

Sweet wanderer from the sky.

Willis G. Clark.

ANSWER.

O, would that the gush of the youthful heart

Might linger in riper years!
That its simple spirit would not depart

In the hours of grief and tears.

F.

118 FLORA'S INTERPRETER*

LOBELIA. ClattS. Order 1. A genus known to

L cardinalis. contain near|y 10° 8Pecie9- almost Pecu*

liar to America, South Africa, and Aus-
Flowen blue and scarlet.

MALEVOLENCE.

And fell Lobelia's suffocating breath

Loads the dank pinions of the gale with death.

Darwin.

FLORAS INTERPRETER. 119

LOCUST. (Green leaved.) Clast 17. Order 10.

North American species — and there
is one in India, and one in China.

AFFECTION BEYOND THE GRAVE.

Tho fresh boughs of the Locust tree
Do image forth his memory in my heart.

Mon tfy.

SENTIMENT.

We send these fond endearments o'er the grave; —
Heaven would be hell if loved ones were not there,
And any spot a heaven, if we could save
From every stain of earth, and thither bear
The hearts that are to us our hope and care,
The soil whereon our purest pleasures grow:
Around the quiet hearth we often share,
From the quick change of thought, the tender flow
Of fondness waked by smiles, the world wo love below.

Percival.

ANSWER.

Weep not for those
Who sink within the arms of death
Ere yet the chilling wintry breath

Of sorrow o'er them blows;
But weep for them who here remain,
The mournful heritors of pain,
Condemned to see each bright joy fade,
And mark grief's melancholy shade

Flung o'er Hope's fairest rose.

Mr*. Embury.

120 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

LOTOS FLOWER. Classn. Order 10. NativeofEgypt

r,j«0- and India. An aquatic plaut — its

fruit growing from the root is good for

food. Flowers red, blue, and white.

ESTRANGED LOVE.
Lotos, the nymph, (if rural tales be true,)

Forsook her form; and, fixing here, became
A flowery plant, which still preserves her name.

Pope'$ Ovid.

SENTIMENT.

Farewell — farewell! there is no tie,

When we are far apart,
To be, in every changing scene,

A spell upon thy heart!
It is not that the glow is less

Upon thy glorious brow,
Nor that thy voice has lost the soul

Of silvery music now. —
Nor is it that a fickle heart

Another god has made,
And reared another shrine, whereon

Its votive gifts are laid.

But passion's sun at rising shone

With all its noontide power,
And called those young buds into bloom —

It withered in an hour.
Like kindlier warmth to spring flowers given

Than their own April sky,
To bid those flowerets early bloom,

But earlier to die.

Hindu,

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 121

LOVE-LIES-A-BLEEDING. Class 19. Order 5. A

Aumm^, kypocondM*,. ES,<iS*$r<SC

ed to India and North
America ; 3 species in
Europe. Flowers purple-
red — seeds pink.

HOPELESS NOT HEARTLESS.

Nor would I change my buried love
For any heart of living mould,
No — for I am a hero's child —
I '11 hunt my quarry in the wild;
And still my home this mansion make,
Of all unheeded and unheeding,
And cherish for my warrior's sake,
The flower of ' Love-lies-bleeding

Campbtll.

SENTIMENT.

Though the burning tears

Like gems are on thy cheek —
Though the burdened heart hath sorrow

Which the lip may never speak;
Though the memories of Hope's treacherous song,

In sad relief, are set
Against thy coming years of ill,

With all their vain regret —
Yet, in the stern morality

Which rises from this hour,
Thou mayst gain a perfect talisman

Of a pervading power;
T is the lesson of earth's vanity,

And as its phantoms rise
And die like buds around the thorn,

Mayst ripen for the skies.

Willis G. Clark.

122 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

LUPINE. Class 17. Order 4. Found in both Atmncnn,

//uomus ^'c sout'1 °^ ^ur°Pc> I-R.VPI an'^ t'10 f';|pe °f

,,u|st._t|ie

cultivated for flowers are white, blue, yellow,
and rose-colored.

DEJECTION, SORROW.

The Lupines here, as evening shadows rise,
Low droop their sorrowing leaves,
And close their humid eyes.

Garland of Flora.

SENTIMENT.

Oh! for my bright and faded hours,
When life was like a summer stream,
On whose gay banks the virgin flowers
Blushed in the morning's rosy beam.

******
That scene of love! — where hath it gone;
Where have its charms and beauty sped?
My hours of youth that o'er me shone,
Where have their light and splendor fled?
Into the silent lapse of years —
And I am left on earth to mourn;
And I am left to drop my tears
O'er memory's lone and icy urn!

/. R. Staermcister.

ANSWER.

Methinks when on the languid eye

Life's autumn's scenes grow dim,
When evening shadows veil the sky,

And pleasure's syren hymn
Grows fainter on the tuneless ear,
Like echoes from another sphere,

Or dreams of seraphim —
It were not sad to cast away
This dull and cumbrous load of clay.

Willis G. Clark

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 123

MAGNOLIA.

Class 13. Onler 13. A jjnui

of 1 r,

Magnolia, glauca.

twi'fii ill.- 1 nil.-d Slat.-* :tini
OHO spi-rii-s in tropical Ai
Flowers whitu or cream color
fragrant and beautiful.

hill.! ,

t'rica.
very

LOVE OF NATURE.

Immortal in bloom,

Soft waves the Magnolia its groves of perfume,
And low bends the branch with rich fruitage depressed,
All glowing like gems in the crowns of the cast;
Then? the bright eye of nature in mild glory hovers:
'T is the land of the sunbeam, the green isle of lovers.

Yamoyilen.

SENTIMENT.

I know, for thou hast told me,

Thy maiden love of flowers;
Ah, those that deck thy gardens,

Are pale, compared with ours.
When our wide woods and mighty lawns

Bloom to the April skies,
The earth hath no more glorious sight

To show to human eves.
Come, thou hast not forgotten

Thy pledge and promise quite,
With many blushes murmured

Beneath the evening light.
Come, the young violets crowd my door,

Thy earliest look to win;
And at my silent window sill

The jessamine peeps in.
All day the red-bird warbles

Upon the mulberry near,
And the night-sparrow trills his song,

All night, with none to hear.

Bryant.

124 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

MARIGOLD, YELLOW. On/«ri9. cia.» 4. indigenous

xi i i i /!;•/• to Europe. South America, ;nid

Calendula, officinalit. j|uli;i 'Tfic yi.|lmv HowerfWM

sacred to Venus, and highly
prized by the ancients. It h; s
been devoted by Catholics to ths
Virgin Mary.

SACRED AFFECTIONS.

Open afresh your round of starry folds,

Ye ardent Marigolds!

Dry up the moisture of your golden lids,

For great Apollo bids

That in these days your praises shall be sung

On many harps which he has lately strung.

Keats.

SENTIMENT.

Come, send abroad a love for all who live;
Canst guess what deep content in turn they give?
Kind wishes and good deeds will render back
More than thou e'er canst sum. Thou 'It nothing lack,
But say — ' 1 'm full! ' — Where does the stream begin?
The source of outward joy lies deep within.

And if indeed 'tis not the outward state,
But temper of the soul by which we rate
Sadness or joy, then let thy bosom move
With noble thoughts, and wake thee into love
Then let the feeling in thy breast be given
To noble ends — this, sanctified by Heaven,
And springing into life, new life imparts,
Till thy frame beats as with a thousand hearts.

Dana.
ANSWER.

Trees and flowers and streams
Are social and benevolent; and he
Who oft communeth in their language pure,
Roaming among them at the close of day,
Shall find, like him who Eden's garden dressed,
His Maker there, to teach his listening heart.

Mrs. Sigourney

FLORA S INTERPRETER. 125

MARIGOLD, FRENCH. Class 19. Order 2. Thisisa

Tagetes, patula. Mcxican. ^ »n? lhe fabulo.u«

account is, that it became *t;un-
ed or marked with the blood of
Mexicans whom the Christian
Spaniards slew. Flowers dark
red, almost purple

JEALOUSY.

And Jcalousie

That we'ved of yelwo goldes a girlonde
And had a cukewc sitting in her hand.

JTniffAJ'* Tale.

SENTIMENT.

I know there is a rival in the case,
A very rich and very stupid fellow —

Philosophy, however, is the only

Bulin for the evils of this changing life;

It soothes alike the married and the lonely,
Healing the ills of maiden or of wife:

Husbands and youthful bachelors may find toe
A solace in it, when they have a mind to.

Sargent

ANSWER.

Ay, such is man's philosophy,

When woman is untrue;
The loss of one but teaches him
To make another do.

Token for 1832
11*

126 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

SAFFRON. Clan 6. Order 3. Native of

C^oWcum, au^nali. ^' ^•^TSSS.

sometimes variegated. It llow

era in autumn.

I DO NOT FEAR TO GROW OLD.

Then bright from earth amid the troubled sky,
Ascends fair Colchicwn, with radiant eye,
Warms the cold bosom of the hoary year,
And lights with beauty's blaze the dusky sphere.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

Lament who will, in fruitless tears,

The speed with which our moments fly:

I sigh not over vanished years,

But watch the years that hasten by.

Why grieve that time has brought so soon

The sober age of manhood on?
As idly should I weep at noon

To see the blush of morning gone.

True, time will sear and blanch my brow:
Well — I shall sit with aged men,

And my good glass will tell me how
A grisly beard becomes me then.

And should no foul dishonor lie

Upon my head when I am gray,
Love yet may search my fading eye,

And smooth the path of my decay.

Bryant.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 127

MlGNONETTE. Class ll. OnlerS. The .BcseJa Qdorato,
Reseda, odorato. Swi!l!l MiS"ont!lte. " » native of KgyPt.

Flow«rs very fragrant, color jialo yellow
or white.

YOUR QUALITIES SURPASS YOUR LOVELINESS.

No gorgeous flowers the meek Reseda grace,
Yet sip with eager trunk yon busy race
Her simple cup, nor heed the da/.zling gem
That beams in Fritillaria's diadem.

Dr. Evans.

SENTIMENT.

She had read

Her father's well-filled library with profit,
And could talk charmingly. Then she would sing,
And play too, passably, and dance with spirit.
She sketched from nature well, and studied How«r»
Which was enough alone to love her fo..
Yi>t she was knowing in all needlr,voi-k,
And shone in dairy and ih kit^ncil cor,
As in the parlor.

-V

128 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

MEZEREON. Cla**8. Order 1. Found in Europe and

Dalphne, odora. **•»• . R. h"8 /"^^ Jow.er8, in little ter'

~ rainal heads, white and red, fragrant.

TIMIDITY.

In sweet Mezereon's tinctured bush
Again revives coy Dalphne's maiden blush.

Eta**.

SENTIMENT.

There was one fair girl — her glossy hair
Fell over a brow undimmed by care:
A slight rose-tinge was on her cheek —
And the light in her eye so soft and meek,
She seemed to shrink like a timid dove,
Though the voice that spoke was one of love.
Sweet one! O may thy footsteps move
Ever as lightly as now they rove;
May earth to thee whisper words of joy,
With never a frown the dream to destroy.

Mri. L P. Smith.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 129

MoNK's-HOOD. Class IS. Order 2. A genus almost

Aconitum. napellus. e|lually divided betwixt the alpine re-
gions of Europe and Siberia. Flowers
blue-colored, and poisonous.

DECEIT.

Let deceit the Monk's-hood wear.

Wiffen.

SENTIMENT.

Go forth again, inconstant one,

Go forth among proud fashion's throng —
May a fair sky and a pleasant sun

Be thine, to light thy step along;
No malison shall rest on thee,

Although that vow so soon was broken;
Yet thou shalt hear no curse from me,

No word unmanly shall be spoken:
Forget my heart, forget my lyre, —

Forget them with our pleasures gone ;
Kindled and quenched hath been love's fire,

Yet I forgive thee — speed thee on.

/. F. Rogert.

ANSWER.

Inconstant! are the waters so,

That fall in showers on hill and plain,
Then, tired of what they find below,

Ride on the sunbeams back again?
Pray, are there changes in the sky,

The winds, or in our summer weather?
In sudden change, believe me, I

Will beat both clouds and winds together:
Nothing in air or earth may be

Fit type of my inconstancy.

Token for 183ft.

ISO FLORA'S INTERPRETER

Clan 24. Order 2. Tbcrn nre noveral spe-

v:,,/. n,,,/;,,™ cit;s of :|1H m"ss' l)Ut li"' d"^r''"rt; '"• ritr(lly
bycopotlium. kn(iwn |jx<v||t ,)y ,,()t:mi,H. ^.vvf, havo

di>tinct leaves and often steins. They lire
found ill all climates.

ENNUI.

The mossy fountains and the silver shades
Delight no more.

Pope.

SENTIMENT.

I sorrow that all fair things must decay,
While time and accident arid miseries last;

That the red rose so soon must fade away,
The white be sullied by the ruthless blast;

The pure snow turned to mud in half a day;
Even heaven's own glorious a/ure be o'ercast,

Imperial ermine be with dust defiled,

And China's finest crockery cracked aid spoiled.

Halltck.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 131

MYRTLE. Clatt 12. Order 1. Native of Europe and

Ul° East Tho myrtl0 was held in hish

estimation by the ancienU. It is all beauti-
ful — leaf, flower, and tree. Flower white.

LOVE IN ABSENCE.

The Jlfyrlle on thy breast or brow
Would lively hope and love avow.

/. H. Wifftn.

SENTIMENT.

We must part awhile:

A few short months — though short, they must be long
Without thy dear society; but yet
We must endure it, and our love will bo
The fonder after parting — it will grow
Intenser in our absence, and again
Burn with a tender glow whrn I return.
Fear not; this is rny last resolve, and this
My parting token.

PtrettA

132 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

NARCISSUS, POETICUS. Cla*,6. Ordtrl. Indigenow
to Europe. Flowers white, very

large ^ fragrant> with a criro.

son border round the nectary.

EGOTISM AND SELF LOVE.

The pale JVoraMti*

Still feeds upon itself; but, newly blown,
The nymphs will pluck it from its tender stalk,
And say, ' Go fool, and to thy image talk.'

Lord Thurloic.

SENTIMENT.

Nature's laws must be obeyed,
And this is one she strictly laid
On every soul which she has made,

Down from our earliest mother:
Be self y OUT first and greatest care,
From all reproach the darling spare,
And any blame that she should bear,

Put off upon another.
Had Nature taken a second thought,
A better precept she had taught,
And good instead of evil wrought

By those the power possessing ;
For self had been put out of sight,
The love of others brought to light;
In short, the wrong had all been right,

And man to man a blessing

JkftM Gould.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 133

Clou 8. Order 1. Found in Eu-

Trorjcblum maius r°Pe and the East- F'owere a

lTVm golden yellow— very brilliant The

plant is said to emit flashes of light

in tho morning before sunrise — and

also at the twilight. (Indian Cress.)

PATRIOTISM.

Bright the JVos/ur/ion glows, and late at eve
Light, lambent, dances o'er its sleepless bed.

Bidlakt

SENTIMENT.

Land of the forest and the rock,

Of dark blue lake and mighty river —

Of mountains reared aloft to mock

The storm's career and lightning's shock,

My own green land forever!

Oh, never may a son of thine,

Where'er his wandering steps incline,

Forget the sky which bent above

His childhood like a dream of love. —

Land of my fathers — if my name,

Now humble and unwed to fame,

Hereafter burn upon the lip,

As one of those which may not die,

Linked in eternal fellowship

With visions pure, and strong and high;

If the wild dreams which quicken now

Thfi throbbing pulse of heart and brow,

Hereafter take a real form,

Like spectres changed to beings warm,

And over temples wan and gray

The star-like crown of glory shine;

Thine be the bard's undying lay,

The murmur of his praise be thine.

/. G. Whittier
12

134 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

NETTLE. Class 2l. Order 4. An extensive gen«s»

Urtica containing near 80 species. Indigenous

to the tropical parts or America, India,
and tin; islands in the Pacific. One spe-
cies in Europe. Flowers have no corolla.

SLANDER.

O'er the throng Urtica flings
Her barbed shafts, and darts her poisoned stings.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

O thou, from whose rank breath nor sex can save,
Nor sacred virtue, nor the powerless grave,
Felon unwhipped! than whom in yonder cells
Full many a groaning wretch less guilty dwells, —
Blush, if of honest blood a drop remains,
To steal its lonely way along thy veins;
Blush — if the bronze long hardened on thy cheek
Has left one spot where that poor drop can speak;
Blush to be branded with the Slanderer's name,
And tho' thou dread'st not sin, at least dread shame
We hear, indeed, but shuifdcr while we hear,
The insidious falsehood, and the heartless jeer:
For each dark libel that thou lik'st to shape,
Thou mayst from law, but not from scorn escape ;
The pointed finger, cold averted eye,
Insulted virtue's hiss — thou canst not fly.

Sjragve.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 135

NIGHTSHADE. Clax* 5. Order I. A very extensive

Solatium, nigrum. f '"'— m.ortf llia" '"° *»"v";s are

liiuiiil in America. I here art! species
ul.-n in India and Africa. Tin; »SW//-
nuin niif nun. has white flowers with
yellow a n tliers.

DARK THOUGHTS.

Thy baneful root, Solatium, must arise
From dismal, dark Tartarean shade.

Garland of Flora.

SENTIMENT.

O say, why age, and grief, and pain,
Shall long to go, but long in vain;
Why vice is left to mock at time,
And, gray in years, grow gray in crime;
While youth, that every eye makes glad,
And beauty, all in radiance clad,
And goodness, cheering every heart,
Come, but come onlv to depart;
Sunbeams, to cheer life's wintry day —
Sunbeams, to flash, then fade away.

Spragut.

ANSWER.

When Heaven's unerring pencil writes on every pilgrim's breast,
As passport to Time's changeful shore, ' Lo this is not your rest;
Why build ye towers, ye fleeting ones? — Why bowers of fra

grance rear —
As if the self-deluded soul might find its solace here? '

In vain! in vain! for storms will rise, and o'er your treasures

sweep;

But when loud thunders vex the wave, and deep replies to deep-
When in your desolated path Hope's glittering fragments lay,
Spring up, and fix your grasp on that which never can decay.

Mrs. Sigourney.

136 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

OAK LEAF. Class 21. Order 13. This useful genus

Ouei'CUS contains about 80 species — found chiefly

^ in Europe and America. Only one single

species found in the southern hemisphere.

The oak lives to a great age. The flower

has no corolla.

BRAVERY AND HUMANITY.

Most worthy of the oaken wreath
The ancients him esteemed,

Who, in a battle, had from death
Some man of worth redeemed.

Drayton.

SENTIMENT.

TVtid the din of arms, when the dust and smoke

In clouds are curling o'er thee,
Be firm till the enemy's ranks are broke,

And they fall, or flee before thee.

Yet I would not have thee towering stand

O'er him who 's for mercy crying,
But bow to the earth, and with tender hand

Raise up the faint and dying.

Mist Gould.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 137

OATS. Clots B. Order 2, Found in the United States,

Jlnenn Europe, Barbary, etc. Flowers spreading, with-

out petals; the panicle very elegant and flexible.

4

MUSIC.

Two sister nymphs, the fair Avenas, lead
Their fleecy squadrons o'er the lawns of Tweed;
Pass with light step his wave-worn banks along,
And wake his echoes with their silver tongue;
Or touch the reed, as gentle love inspires,
In notes accordant to their chaste desires.

Darwin,

SENTIMENT.

Young thoughts have music in them, love,

And happiness their theme,
And music wanders in the wind

That lulls a morning dream.
And there are an^el voices heard

In childhood's trolic hours, .-
When life is but an April day

Of sunshine and of flowers.
There 's music in the forest leaves,

When summer winds are there,
And in the laugh of forest girls,

That braid their sunny hair.
The first wild bird that drinks the dew,

From violets of the spring,
Has music in his song, and in

The fluttering of his wing.

HalUck.
12*

138 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

OLIVE. Class 2. Order I. The Olive was sacred to

Q]ea Minerva; and it lias been, since the Deluge, the

emblem of peace. It lives to a "rent age.

Flowers white, gmull, and slightly odoriferous.

PEACE.

The sign of peace who first displays,
The Olive wreath possesses.

Drayton.

SENTIMENT.

Come, while the blossoms of thy year are brightest,

Thou youthful wanderer in a flowery maze;
Come, while the restless heart is bounding lightest,

Arid joy's pure sunbeams tremble in thy ways;
Come, while sweet thoughts, like summer buds unfolding,

Waken rich feelings in the careless breast —
While yet thy hand the ephemeral wreath is holding,

Come, and secure interminable rest

Come, while the morning of thy life is glowing,

Ere the dim phantoms thou art chasing die —
Ere the gay spell, which earth is round thee throwing,

Fades like the crimson from a sunset sky.
Life is but shadows, save a promise given,

Which lights up sorrow with a fadeless ray.
O, touch the sceptre! — with a hope in heaven,

Come, turn thy spirit from the world away.

Then will the crosses of this brief existence

Seem airy nothings to thine ardent soul,
And, shining brightly in the forward distance,

Will of thy patient race appear the goal —
Home of the weary; where, in peace reposing,

The spirit lingers in unbounded bliss;
Though o'er its dust the uncurtained grave is closing,

Who would not early choose a lot like this'

Columbian Star.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 139

ORANGE BLOSSOM. Cla*s\1. Order 12. Native of

Citrus aurunlium. Imli:i ,aild r.hina' T1'8"01"8"

:ir» wiutOi odorous, in short ra-

coincs.

WOMAN'S WORTH.

Knowcst then the land where groves of citron flower,
The golden Orange darkling leaves embower —
Know'st thou tlie land? Oh, there, oh, there,
I long with thee, my loved one, to repair.

G of the.

SENTIMENT.

All! woman — in this world of ours,

What gill can be compared to thee?
II<»w slow would drag life's weary hours,
Though man's proud brow were bound with flowers,

And his the wealth of land and sea,
If destined to exist alone,
And ne'er call woman's heart his own.
******
Yes, woman's love is free from guile,

And pure as bright Aurora's ray;
The heart will melt before its smile,

And earthly objects fade away.
Were I the monarch of the earth,

And master of the swelling sea,
I would not estimate their worth,

Dear woman, half the price of thee.

George P. Morrit.

140 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ORCHIS. Class 19. Order 1. A genns of near 90

Orrhis species, principally indigenous to Europe,

Northern Africa, and North America. Flow-

era orange, yellow, white, and bluish purple;

spiked.

A BELLE.

The Orchis race with varied beauty charm,
And mock the exploring fly, or bee's aerial form.

C. Smith.

SENTIMENT.

Men gaze on beauty for a while,
Allured by artificial smile ;
But Love shall never twang his dart
From any string that 's formed by art.
******
Be thine to live, and never know
Sweet sympathy in joy or wo;
To see Time rob thee, one by one,
Of every charm thou e'er hast known;
To see the moth, that round thee came.
Flit to some newer, brighter flame,
And never know thy destined fate,
Till to retrieve it is too late.

Paulding.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 141

Ox-EYE. . Class 19. Order 2. A genus of more

than 20 species, found every when
tween the tropics. Flowers a coi
calyx. Corolla compound, radiate.

PATIENCE.

Ox-eye still green, and bitter patience.

Garland of Flora.

SENTIMENT.

Even as a fountain, whose unsullied wave
Wells in the pathless valley, flowing o'er
With silent waters kissing, as they lave
The pebbles with bright rippling, and the shore,
Of matted grass and flowers, — so softly pour
The breathings of her bosom, when she prays
Low bowed before her Maker; then no more
She muses on the griefs of former days;
Her full heart melts, and flows in heaven's dissolving
rays.

Death will come —

A few short moments over, and the prize
Of peace eternal waits her, and the tomb
Becomes her fondest pillow.

Percival.

ANSWER.

I never sought

With eagerness, as others seek in vain,

The phantom, Happiness; — for I was taught,

When young, it dwelt not in this world — yes, pain

And care were my acquaintance when a child;

And I have always had a wish to turn

Away from earth; — and death has worn a mild,

Not fearful aspect.

Ladies' Magazine, Vol. VII.

142 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

PANSEY. Class 5. Order 1. A European upe-

Vinln trirnJnr cies of tlle v'olel> but cultivated here.

V lOltt, triC< h .u ^^ tricoiort from lhe union of

purple, yellow uutl blue in its blossoms.
TENDER AND PLEASANT THOUGHTS.

Pray you, love, remember
There 's Pansies — that 's for thought.

Shakspeart

SENTIMENT.

I 've pleasant thoughts that memory brings,

In moments free from care,
Of a fairy-like and laughing girl,

With roses in her hair:
Her smile was like the star-light

Of summer's softest skies,
And worlds of joyous.>ess there shone

From out her witchL^ eyes.

Her looks were looks of rm-'ody,

Her voice was like the sweu
Of sudden music, notes of mirth,

That of wild gladness tell.
She came like spring, with pleasant sounds

Of sweetness and of mirth,
And her thoughts were those wild flowery ones

That linger not on earth.

I know not of her destiny,

Or where her smile now strays;
But the thought of her comes over me

With my own lost sunny days, —
With moonlight hours, and far off friends,

And many pleasant things,
That have gone the way of all the earth

On Time's resistless wings.

Mrs. L. P. Smith,

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 143

PASSION FLOWER. Clats IG. OrderZ. Indigenous to

PdSSiflora Amerir:i — at the South tin: Howe™

J are bright red; those of the Morth

are generally pale blue, or yellow.

It is said to have been discovered

and named by the missionaries.

RELIGIOUS I LRVOR.

One more plant

Which consecrates to Salem's peaceful King,

Though fair as any gracing beauty's bower,

Is linked to sorrow like a holy thing,

And takes its name from suffering's fiercest hour.

Be this my noblest theme — Imperial Passion Flower

Whatever impulse first conferred that name,

Or Fancy's dream, or Superstition's art,

I freely own its spirit-touching claim,

With thoughts and feelings it may well impart.

Bernard Barton.

SENTIMENT.

The earth, all Hzht and loveliness, in summer's golilen hours.
Smiles, in IKT liriilul vesture clad, nml crowned with festal [lowers,
£o radiantly beautiful, HO like to heaven above,
We scarce can deem more fair that world of perfect bliss and love.

Is this a shadow, faint and dim, of th:it which is to come?

What shall the unveiled -lories I I our celestial home,

Where waves the glorious tree of life, where HI reams of bliss gush free,
And all is flowing in the light of im mortality I

To see again the homo of youth, when weary years have passed,
Serenely bright, as when we turned and looked upon It last;
To hear the voice of love, to meet the rapturous embrace,
To g.i7.e, through tear* ol'gladness, on each dear familiar face.

— Oh! this indeed is joy, though Vre we meet aiain to part;
But what transporting bliss awaits the pure and faithful h-art.
Where it shall find the loved and lost, those who have gone before,
Where every tear is wiped away, where partings come no more.

Christian Examintr.

144 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

PEA, EVERLASTING. Class 17. Order 4. There are
Lathyrus, Latifolia. a,bout 40ii8Pecics of ">» 8«nu8'

almost all European— 4 only in
North America; there are a few
in Northern Africa. Flowers of
the native kind purple — the exotic
crimson.

WILT THOU GO WITH ME?

The winged Lathyrus, that lightly
To soar Tike hope in waiting lovers' dreams.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

Wilt thou go, dearest, go

To the heath and the mountain,
Where the violets blow

On the brink of the fountain;
Where the soul shall be free

As the winds that blow o'er us,
And the sunset of life

Smile in beauty before us?
There nothing but death

Our affection can sever,
And till life's latest breath

Love shall bind us forever.

PercivaL

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 145

PEA, SWEET. Class 17. Order 4. Native of

Lathiirus ndaratus 8ici|y and Ceylon- Stalks two-
flowered. The blossoms are bean,
tifully rich in coloring — blue, lilac,
rose, white, etc., all in the same
flower, very fragrant.

DEPARTURE.

Here are Sweet Peas, on tiptoe for a flight,
With wings of gentle flush o'er delicate white,
And taper fingers, catching at all things,
To bind them all about with tiny rings.

Jfate.

SENTIMENT.

I must go o'er the sea to other lands:

It is the call of duty; but fear not,

I shall return, and then our loves are sure.

Dream not of danger on the sea — one power

Protects us always, and the honest heart

Fears not the tempest.

Ptrcival

ANSWER.

When from land and home receding,
And from hearts that ache to bleeding,
Think of those behind, who love thee,
While the sun is bright above thee!
Then, as down the ocean glancing,
With the waves his rays are dancing,
Think how long the night will be
To the eyes that weep for thee.

Mi* Gould.
13

146 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

PEACH BLOSSOM. C/flw*12. Onlerl. The native

«*••. KZ °,f,±e,orcr

from Persia. Flowers pale red.
I AM YOUR CAPTIVE.

Go, flower, and my passion declare,
While her delicate praises you speak —

Yet the Peach Blossom hue is less fair
Than the bloom of her beautiful cheek.

SENTIMENT.

I loved thee, and must love thee still,

In memory of the past,
Amid whate er of earthly ill

My future lot is cast!
E'er in my boyhood's sunny prime,
When brightly from the urn of Time

Life's golden moments fell,
Thou wert a peri to my eyes,
Sent from Love's own sweet paradise,

In my young heart to dwell.

JVew York Mirror

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 147

PEONY. C7a«13. OriierS. Native of Switzerland, and

Pceonid. the Alps' Root Perennial- Flowera double,
crimson color, and very superb.

ANGER.

Pceonia round each fiery ring unfurls,
Bared to the noon's bright blaze her sanguine curls

Evan*.

SENTIMENT.

The wildest ills that darken life,

Are rapture to the bosom's strife;

The tempest, in its blackest form,

Is beauty to the bosom's storm;

The ocean, lashed to fury loud,

Its high wave mingling with the cloud,

Is peaceful, sweet serenity,

To anger's dark and stormy sea.

J. W. Eastburnt,

148 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

PERIWINKLE, BLUE. Class 6. Order i. Native of

Vin.ro. minor Egypt, but naturalized in Europe.

V mCO, minor. Flowers deep blue, white in the

centre — scentless. Leaves ever-
green— perennial.

EARLY AND SINCERE FRIENDSHIP.

In France, the Periwinkle is esteemed the emblem
of sincere friendship.

Where captivates the sky-blue Periwinkle
Under the cottage eaves.

Hurdi*.

SENTIMENT.

Hast thou forgot, friend of my better days,

Hast thou forgot the early innocent joys

Of our remotest childhood — when our lives

Were linked in one, and our young hearts bloomed out

Like violet bells, upon the self-same stem,

Pouring the dewy odors of life's spring

Into each other's bosom — all the bright

And sorrowful thoughts of a confiding love,

And intermingled vows, and blossoming hopes

Of future good, and infant dreams of bliss,

Budding and breathing sunnily about them,

As crimson-spotted cups, in spring-time, hang

On all the delicate fibres of the vine?

B. B. Thatcher

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 149

Pr»nviNKLE,tffa'/eorred. Class 5. Order 1. Native

f tnca, rosea. °ru'l0 East Indics- II *»"'

era the greatest part of the
year. Flowers either rose
color or pure white; the cen-
tre always a rich crimson
with a yellow eye.

PLEASURES OF MEMORY.

There sprang the violet all newe,
And fresh periwinke, rich of hue,
No violet, ne eke Periwinke
Ne floure more than men can thinke.

Chaucer.

SENTIMENT.

T is sweet, and yet 't is sad, that gentle power,
Which throws in winter's lap the spring-tide flower:
I love to dream of days my childhood knew,
When, with the sister of rny heart, time flew
On wings of innocence and hope! dear hours,
When joy sprung up about our path, like flowers!

Our smiles were clearer than the skies of June;
Our tears were not of sorrow, — but full soon
The visions of my boyhood passed away,
And heavily life's chain upon me lay;
And now 't is sweet, though sad, alone to lie
Within the autumn noon's unclouded eye,
While memory renders back the pearls of cost,
That else in time's oblivious waves were lost,
And bids me own at once, and bless the power
Which throws in winter's lap the spring-tide flower.

Mrs. A. M. Wtll*.
13*

160 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

PHLOX. (Wild Sweet William.) Class 5. Gr<ler 1.

Tllis is !1 lN|Ort1' American plant, with th«

exccplion of one species fo'und in Norlll.

ern Asia. Flowers purple, pink, lilac and
white — very showy. Plant perennial.

UNANIMITY.

Sioeel-vrilliams, campions, sops^in-wine,

One by another neatly;
Thus have I made this wreath of mine.

Drayton.

SENTIMENT.

I wish I could build me a princely dome,

With temples and fountains and towers —
I 'd fence it about with wonderful care,
That no annoyers should break in there,
And all within should be tasteful and fair —
Around should be gardens and bowers.

With plenty of books, and abundance of wealth,

Enough for myself and for others,
I would shut out the ignorant, wicked and rude,
And let in the wise, and the witty, and good,
Who should keep me for aye in a sociable mood,

And be to me sisters and brothers.

Nought there should be vulgar, or false, or unkind,

And nothing to tire or annoy;
We kindred spirits should daily meet,
In honest and faithful affection to greet,
And chase away time in communion sweet,

Nor look for the blight of our joy.

American Ladies' Magazine, Vol. TV.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER 161

PlNE. (Black Spruce.) Class 21. Order IS.

Pinu<t nitrra Tnia 8Peciei1 «« indigenous to North Amer-
ica. Found from Canada to Carolina.
Leaves a dark green.

PITY.

A Crotcn of Pine upon his head he wore,
And thus began her pity to explore.

JDryden't Ovil.

SENTIMENT.

To me, though bathed in sorrow's dew,

The dearer far art thou:
I loved thee when thy woes were few,

And can I alter now?
That face in joy's bright hour was fair;
More beautiful since grief is there,

Though somewhat pale thy brow;
And be it mine to soothe the pain,
Thus pressing on thy heart and brain.

ANSWER.

It may be that I shall forget my grief;
It may be time has good in store for me;
It may be that my heart will find relief
From sources now unknown. Futurity
May bear within its folds some hidden spring
From which will issue blessed streams; and yet
Whate'er of joy the coming year may bring,
The past — the past — I never can forget.

Mrs. Halt.

152 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

PlNE, PITCH. C/o»i21. Or<fer61. Agenuacon

There are few in the Levant, In-
dia, and China.

TIME AND PHILOSOPHY.

To Rhea grateful still the pine remains.

Congreve's Ovid.
SENTIMENT.

Yes, dear departed cherished days,

Could memory's hand restore
Your morning light, your evening rays,

From Time's gray urn once more, —
Then might this restless heart be still,

This straining eye might close,
And Hope her fainting pinions fold,

While the fair phantoms rose.

But, like a child in ocean's arms,

We strive against the stream,
Each moment farther from the shore,

Where life's young fountains gleam —
Each moment fainter wave the fields,

And wilder rolls the sea;
The mist grows dark — the sun goes down —

Day breaks — and where are we?

O. W. Holme*.
ANSWER.

Why should we count our life by years,
Since years are short, and pass away?
Or, why by fortune's smiles and tears,
Since tears are vain, and smiles decay?
O! count by virtues — these will last
When life's lame-footed race is o'er;
And these, when earthly joys are past,
Shall cheer us on a brighter shore.

Mn. Halt.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER 153

PlNE, SPRUCE. ClauZl. Order 8. This species is cul-

Pinus dbies tivated in gardens, and called Norway

Spruce Fir. It has long fun-like branch*

es. Cones pendulous. The Burgundy

pitch is made from thia species.

HOPE IN ADVERSITY.

The evergreen stern winter's power derides,
Like Hope that in misfortune's storm abides.

SENTIMENT.

We will not deplore, then, the days that are past;
The gloom of misfortune is over them cast:
They wore lengthened by sorrow, and sullied by care;
Their griefs were too many, their joys were too rare;
Yet now that their shadows are on us no more,
Let us welcome the prospect that brightens before !

We huve cherished fair hopes, we have plotted brave schemes;
We huve lived till we find them illusive as dreams;
Wealth has melted like snow that is grasped in the hand,
And the steps we have climbed, have deserted like sand;
Yet shall we despond, while of health unbereft,
And honor, bright honor, and freedom are left ?

* * * * * - » •

Oh let us no longer then vainly lament
Over scenes that have faded, or days that are spent;
But, by faith untbrsaken, nnawed by mischance,
On Hope's waving banner still fixed be our glance;
And should fortune prove cruel and false to the last,
Let us look to the future, and not to the past.

Token for 1835.

154 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

PlNK, RED, DOUBLE. ClattlO. Order 2. Native of
Dianthus rubeus.

it has been enlarged, and iu
color varied. The double-red ia
very sweet scented.

WOMAN'S LOVE.

Each Pink sends forth its choicest sweet,
Aurora's warm embrace to meet.

M. Robinson,

SENTIMENT.

What is man's love? His vows are broke,
Even while his parting kiss is warm ; —

But woman's love all change will mock,

And, like the ivy round the oak,
Cling closest in the storm.

And well the poet, at her shrine,

May bend and worship while he woos;

To him she is a thing divine,

The inspiration of his line,
His loved one, and his muse.

If to his song the echo rings

Of fame — 'tis woman's voice he hears;
If ever from his lyre's proud strings
Flow sounds, like rush of angel wings, —
T is that she listens while he sings,

With blended smiles and tears.

HalUck.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. io.>

PlNK, INDIAN. Clatt 10. Order 2. The flowers

UMHb. Z2£?z£*st%'z

•centlesa.

YOU WILL ALWAYS BE LOVELY.

For thee in autumn blows
The Indian Pink and latest rose
For thee.

Smith.

SENTIMENT.

I loved thee for thy high-born grace,

Thy deep and lustrous eye —
For the sweet meaning of thy brow,

And for thy bearing high.
I loved thee for thy stainless truth,

Thy thirst for higher things,
For all that to our common lot

A better temper brings.
And are they not all thine — still thine?

Is not thy heart as true ?
Holds not thy step its noble grace?

Thy cheek its dainty hue ?
And have I not an ear to hear?

And a cloudless eye to see —
And a thirst for beautiful human thought,

That first was stirred by thee?

Willi*.

166 FLORALS INTERPRETER.

PlNK, MOUNTAIN. ClaulO. Order 2. Native of lime-
8tone rockfl and mountains. Flow-

er gweet gcente<L

ASPIRING.

Carya's sweet smile Dianthus proud admires.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

The world may scorn me, if they choose — I care
But little for their scoffings. I may sink
For moments ; but I rise again, nor shrink
From doing what the faithful heart inspires.
I will not flatter, fawn, nor crouch, nor wink,
At what high-mounted wealth or power desires:
I have a loftier aim, to which my soul aspires.

Percival.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 157

PINK, WHITE OR VARIEGATED. Clou 10. Order
Dianthus albus, or varietagus. ^ntifuUarietiJ'S

the Dianthus. The
root of this genus be-
ing perennial, it is
easily cultivated, and
is very ornamental.

YOU ARE FAIR AND FASCINATING.

Deep in the grove beneath the secret shade,
A various wreath of odorous flowers she made,
Gay motley ed Pinks and sweet Jonquils she chose,
All sweet to sense—
The finished chaplet well adorned her hair.

Shentton*.

SENTIMENT.

Oh fairest of the rural maids,
Thy birth was in the forest shades;
Green boughs and glimpses of the sky
Were all that met thy infant eye.

Thy sports, thy wanderings, when a child,
Were ever in the sylvan wild,
And all the beauty of the place
Is in thy heart, and on thy face.

The twilight of the trees and rocks
Is in the light shade of thy locks:
Thy step is as the wind, that weaves
Its playful way among the leaves.

Thy eyes are springs, in whose serene
And silent waters heaven is seen;
Their lashes are the herbs, that look
On their young figures in the brook.

The forest depths, by foot unpressed,
Are not more sinless than thy breast;
The holy peace that fills the air
Of those calm solitudes, is there.

14 .Bryant

168 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

POLYANTHUS. Order 5. Class 1. There aie few of

Primula aurirula ^ Benus "» America, but it Is mostly

rnmwo, auricula. {* ^ the a]pine regiong of Europ<f

The"P. auricula is a native of the
Alps, originally yellow, but when
cultivated, it assumes the most diver-
sified colors. Perennial

PRIDE OF NEWLY ACQUIRED FORTUNE.

See Polyanthus, in full clustered pride,

In splendid robes of rich unnumbered dyes,

With scorn from old acquaintance turn aside.

MattAtw

SENTIMENT.

Maiden, go! and should you rue
All your coldness here hath done,
Know that Nature, ever true,
Will not now desert her son:
If you she gave the cold desire
To flaunt in Fortune's glittering train,
For me she framed a heart ana lyre,
Which will «ot let me live in vain.
The simple chords of that rude lyre,
The plain warm homage of that heart,
Alike were yours; — and shall the fire
That warmed in joy, in grief depart?

Maiden, go! I will not call

A blush again to shame that brow;

But may you in the festal hall

Be tranquil as you leave me now:

Still my lot in life must be

In some dim secluded spot,

Undisturbed by thought of thee,

Dreams of love and all forgot;

Yet ne'er the Tajo's sands of gold,

Nor all the treasures of the deep

Can pay you for the peace you 've sold,

Pleasant dreams and quiet sleep.

-Vrw E»tfand Magazine.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 159

PoPPT, RED. Clots 13. Order 1. An European

rhcUU. «enu.g °f 1 2, «Pecies-there are al*

two in the Levant, and one in Bar
bary, and one in Labrador.

EVANESCENT PLEASURE.

But pleasures are like Poppies spread;
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed.

Burnt

SENTIMENT.

Time! Time!— in thy triumphal flight,

How all life's phantoms flee away!
The smile of Hope — and young delight,

Fame's meteor beam — and Fancy s ray<<
They fade — and on thy heaving tide,

Rolling its stormy waves afar,
Are borne the wrecks of human pride —

The broken wrecks of Fortune's war

Where hath the morning splendor flown,

Which danced upon the crystal stream?
Where are the joys to childhood known,

When life is an enchanted dream?
Enveloped in the starless night,

Which destiny hath overspread;
Enrolled upon that trackless flight

Where the dark wing of Time hath sped.

/. 6?. Brock*.

160 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

POPPY, SCARLET. Class and Order as the preceding.

Pa-paver Th" 8Pecie8 " Uie wUd P0^'

ur™ found in cornfields, etc.

FANTASTIC EXTRAVAGANCE.

Poppy, thy charms attract the vulgar gaze,
And tempt the view with meretricious blaze:
Caught by the glare, with pleasure they behold
Thy glowing crimson melting into gold.
In vain to nobler minds thy lure is spread,
Thy painted front, thy cup of glowing red;
Beneath thy bloom such noxious vapors lie,
That, when obtained and smelt, we loathe and fly.

Joseph Taylor.

SENTIMENT.

Nor yet too brightly strive to blaze,

By stealing all the rainbow rays;

Your gaudy, artificial fly

Will only take the younger fry.

Who has not seen, and seeing mourned,

And mourning smiled, and smiling scorned,

In wild ambition flaming down,

Some comet from a country town?

See, see her in her motley hues;

Funereal blacks and brimstone blues,

And lurid green, and bonfire red,

At once their varied radiance shed;

And skin deep gold, and would be pearls,

And oh! those heaps of corkscrew curls.

O. W. Holmet,

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 161

POPPY, WHITE. ClaulS. Order 1. The white

given, because the flower or fruit
of the poppy was formerly mixed
with the pap given to children in
order to procure sleep.

FORGETFULNESS, OR CONSOLATION.

There poppies white, and violets,
Alcippus on the altar sets
Of quiet sleep; and weaves a crown
To bring the gentle god adown.

Fracattoro — trant.

SENTIMENT.

Will you drink of this fountain, and sorrow forget?
Has the past been so blest that you hesitate yet ?
Can love, when 't is slighted, still cherish a token,
Or hearts still forgive, that unkindness has broken?

If you will not call wo and reproach on his name,
Forget him; for honor, for pride, and for shame;
And if passion resist every feeble endeavor,
Drink deep of the wave, and forget it forever.

Percival.

ANSWER.

1 never will curse him, I never must bless,
Though if anger were greater, the grief would be less.
I have suffered; and much, ere I die, must bear yet,
But I cannot forgive, and I will never forget.

Anon.

164 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

PRIMROSE, EVENING. ClatsS. Order 1. Tree-prim-

(Brtbr. odorata.

Good Hope. The plant is two
or three feet high, flowers pale
yellow; open very suddenly.

INCONSTANCY.

A tuft of evening Primroses,
O'er which the wind may hover till it dozes ;
O'er which it well might take a pleasant sleep,
But that 't is ever startled by the leap
Of buds into ripe flowers.

JTcafi

SENTIMENT.

If e'er I win a parting token,

T is something that has lost its power —
A chain that has been used and broken,

A ruined glove, a faded flower;
Something that makes my pleasures less,
Something that means— -forgetfulness.

And yet my tears are little worth ;
For could I win a seraph's smile,

To light me through this weary earth,
T would tire me in the briefest while ;

For, lady, (is it very wrong ?)

We hate yew when you love too long.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 163

PRIMROSE. Clan 6. Order 1. Found in Europe and

Primula America. It is one of the earliest spring

HAVE CONFIDENCE IN ME.

The Primrose, when with saxe leaves gotten grace,
Maids as a true love in their bosom place.

W. Brown*.

SENTIMENT.

What though the world has whispered thee ' Beware!'
Thou dost not dream of change. Nay, do not speak,
For any answer would imply a doubt
In love's deep confidence, which not for worlds
Should have existence.

There 's many a shadow resting on my name;
But oh! the world's false voice has feeble power
When love asserts his empire.

Robert JUorru.

164 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

PRIMROSE, ROSE-COLORED. Clou 5. Order i. The

Primula general character of the

flowers of the genus Pri-
nmla is a calyx of one
leaf — corolla nionopeta-
lous, — cut half way down
into five heart-shaped seg-
ments.

UNPATRONISED MERIT.

The Primrose, tenant of the glade,
Emblem of virtue in the shade.

John Mayne.

•
SENTIMENT.

I have no hand to cheer me ! Was there one,
Whom I must ever long for — was that heart
Still mine in all my sorrows, as the sun
Wakens a slumbering world, — she might impart
New being to me, and my soul would start
As giants from their sleep, to run the race
Of glory, and to hurl the unerring dart,
Where Victory rears her palm branch.

Percival.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 166

PRICKLY PEAR. Clast 12. Order 1. Native of South

Cactus America, and the West Indies. There

are many species, from creeping shrubs

to trees of ten feet in height Flowers

yellow, white, red, and pink color.

SATIRE.

And can young Beauty's tender heart

Nurse thoughts of scorn,
As on the Cactus' greenest leaves

Protrudes the thorn?

SENTIMENT.

Ay, curl that cherub lip in scorn,

And give to wit the rein,
And barb that tongue with sarcasms born

From thy proud heart's disdain,
In mockery of one who erst
Was ever foremost of the first

To guard thy maiden fame —
One who, with quick adventurous hand,
Had braved the proudest of the land

That lightly named thy name.

And yet if thou canst borrow,

In beauty's mirthful pride,
Delight from friendship's sorrow, —

Smile on, I will not chide;
Yet, ah, methinks it were more kind,
More fraught with woman's feeling mind,

To hide derision's fang
From one, who even now would dare
More than life's brittle thread would bear,

Ere thou shouldst feel one pang.

JV>u> York Mirror,

166 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

QUEEN'S HOCKET. clas* 15- Order 2- Native

only found in North America.
Flowers pale purple or white;
very sweet, but exhaling only
in the evening.

SHE WILL BE FASHIONABLE.

In rival pomp, see either Rocket blow,
Bright as the sun, or as the new-fallen snow.

EttHU.

SENTIMENT.

As the Spring, in native beauty

Painted, charms the admiring sight,
Nor the gorgeous garden envies

For its colors rich and bright; —
As the streamlet, gently murmuring,

Winds along its devious way,
Beautiful, though art has never

Taught its waters how to stray; —
So her native grace and beauty

Best becomes each charming maid;
Cupid justly holds suspected

Dress too artfully displayed.

Mv> England Magazint, Vol. IL

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 167

ROSE, AUSTRIAN. Clots 12. Order 13. Agenusof

Rosa tricolor. nearly 60 species, chiefly indige-

nous to Europe. A few species

found in Japan and India, and nine

or ten in North America.

THOU ART VERY LOVELY.

Rose, thou art the sweetest flower
That ever drank the amber shower!
Rose, thou art the fondest child
Of dimpled Spring! the wood-nymph wild!

Jlnacrton.

SENTIMENT.

Oh! thou, who art the fairest of earth's daughters,
Delighted could I sit a summer's day,
To drink the music of thy lips away,
Gushing their careless melody as waters:

And while I gazed upon thy full blue eyes,
Still listening to thy passion-kindling songs,

Deem myself happiest of thy votaries.
Thus while the morning lark his notes prolongs,

Lists the rapt bard, and, bending to the skies,
Sends up the incense of a grateful heart,

For such a gleam of heavenly ecstasies!
Oh! beautiful in feature as thou art,

More beautiful in mind — my thoughts of thee

Shall live in Love's undying memory.

ANSWER.

Love

Has lent life's wings a rosy hue;
But, ah! Love's dyes were caught above;
They brighten — but they wither too

168 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ROSE. BRIDAL. Class and Order same as the fore-

/?*//)«<? *Mafn1iti9 8oinfr Rose Bridal is of the genus

Kubus rosajolius. ^^ which indude . the Branible

family. Flowers white, usually
double, small and very beautiful.

HAPPY LOVE.

And all is ecstasy; for now
The valley holds its feast of roses,
That joyous time, when pleasures pour
Profusely round, and in their shower
Hearts open like the season's rose.

Moore.

SENTIMENT.

Thefloioer which on Life's desert grows,
Unheeded in its young repose,
Till the mind's ray its shadows break,
And youthful thoughts their pinions take;
That lives the same through changing years,
Through smiles of joy — through Sorrow's tears:
Ay, hopes may vanish as a dream;
Joys bring no warmth upon their beam;
It will bloom on, though all should flee,
Changeless as angel purity; —
Thai flower is Love.

The shrine where Life's sweet flowers are laid,
Ere a cold world has bid them fade;
Where beauty in her bloom attends,
And Hope in gay devotion bends,
And the young soul's unburdened wings
Go forth in joyous wanderings; —
That shrine is Love.

American Ladies' Magazine.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 169

ROSA, BURGUNDY. Native of Europe. A dwarf

shrub. * - "
small.

Rosa parvifolia. "hrub- Leaflet fine. Flowe«

SIMPLICITY AND BEAUTY.
The Rose is fairest when 't is budding new.

SENTIMENT.

New England's daughters need not envy those
Who in a monarch's court their jewels wear:
More lovely they, when but a simple rose
Glows through the golden clusters of their hair.
Could light of diamonds make her look more fair,
Who moves in beauty through the mazy dance,
With buoyant feet that seem to skim the air,
And eyes that whisper in each gentle glance
The poetry of youth, love's sweet and short romance?

Mrs. Little.

ANSWER.

Beauty and Love — their emblems are flowers!
Their date of existence is numbered by hours.

Mr*. Hal*.

15

J70 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ROSE, CAROLINA. Shrubs six or seven feet high. Flow-

Rosa Carolina. era crimflon> ^s8'

LOVE IS DANGEROUS.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath —
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
And sent it back to me.

Ben Johnson.

SENTIMENT.

Yes, Love is but a dangerous guest

For hearts as young as thine,
Where youth's unshadowed joys should rest,

Life's spring-time fancies shine.

Then, sweetest, leave the wildering dream,

Till Time has nerved thy heart
To brook the fitful cloud and gleam,

Which must in love have part.

Ah! life has many a blessed hour

That passion never knows,
And youth may gather many a flower

Beside the blushing rose.

Mrt. Osgood.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 171

ROSE, DAILY.
Rosa quotidiana.

LEVITY.

Thou blushing rose! —

Blown in the morning — thou shall fade ere noon:
What boots a life that in such haste forsakes thee 1
Thou 'rt wondrous frolic being to die so soon,
And passing proud a little color makes thee.

Sir Richard Fanshaw.

SENTIMENT.

And thou, with girlish glee, wilt go
To kneel at pleasure's shrine,

Nor e'er a thought on him bestow,
Whose every thought is thine.

The idlers who around thee press,
With careless praise will dwell

Upon that face whose loveliness
My tongue could never tell.

Those charms which my affections won,

The mind that I adore,
The form I still could gaze upon

Till life itself were o'er:

Each winning look, each winning smile,

That I have loved so long,
Will then some trifling fop beguile,

Or charm a heartless throng.

But why do I at ills repine,
Which still I may not meet?

This heart, whose every pulse is thine,
Ere then may cease to beat!

And still thou 'It move where'er are met

The careless and the gay,
And soon my memory forget,

When I have passed away.

Token for 1829

72 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ROSE, DAMASK. The rfamriak or rhunasrtna row wa-

Rosa damasccna. |^ '(["vas^trin^Vnited "into 'h-li v' and
France. Flowers whito and red.

YOUTH.

Like the damask, rose you sec,
Or like the blossom on the tree,
Or like the dainty flowers of May,
Or like the morning to the day, —
Even such is life.

Blackburne.

SENTIMENT.

Let us prize the rose,
In the unclouded morning of this day,
Which soon will lose its bright serenity!
O, let us prize the first-blown rose of love;
Let us love now, in this our fairest youth,
When love can find a full and fond return.

Percival.

ANSWER.

When the air is lightest,
And the sky is brightest,
Art thou in the garden, talking to a flower?

C. Edward*.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 173

ROSE, DEEP-RED. TMa is the wild fiwcot rose, im-

Rosarubor. Proved h>' Cllltiv:it»"'-. It is the

most common species in our gar-
dens.

BASHFUL SHAME.

In velvet lips the bashful rose begun
To show and catch the kisses of the sun:
Some fuller blown, their crimson honors shed:
Sweet smell the golden chives that graced their head.

Gawin Dcuglas.
SENTIMENT.

Alas! that in our earliest blush

Our danger first we feel,
And tremble when the rising flush

Betrays some angel's seal!
Alas! for care and pallid wo

Sit watchers in their turn,
Where heaven's too faint and transient glow

So soon forgets to burn!

Maiden! through every change the same

Sweet semblance thou mayst wear;
Ay, scorch thy very soul with shame,

Thy brow may still be fair:
But if thy lovely cheek forget

The rose of purer years —
Say, does not memory sometimes wet

That changeless cheek with tears?

O. W. Holmet.

ANSWER.

On Beauty's lids, the gem-like tear

Oft sheds its evanescent ray,
But scarce is seen to sparkle, ere

'Tis chased by beaming smiles away:
Just so the blush is formed — and flies —

Nor owns reflection's calm control:
It comes, it deepens — fades and dies,

A gush of feeling from the soul.

15* Mrs. Cmnie*

174 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ROSE, HUNDRED-LEAVED. This magnificent rose is a

t>non .n/n/iT IZn native of the southern parts

Rosa centlfoha. Of Europe. The Mlvetro*

belongs to tliis species. Its

colors vary from crimson

to pink und purple.

DIGNITY OF MIND.

Thou queen of flowers,
Of thousand leaves,

And throne surrounded by protecting thorn — •
Thou heaven-born rose!

KUitt.

SENTIMENT.

What 's the brow,

Or the eye's lustre, or the step of air,
Or color, but the beautiful links that chain
The mind from its rare element? There lies
A talisman in intellect, which yields
Celestial music, when the master hand
Touches it cunningly. It sleeps beneath
The outward semblance, and to common sight
Is an invisible and hidden thing;
But when the lip is faded, and the form
Witches the sense no more, and human love
Falters in its idolatry, this spell
Will hold its strength unbroken, and go on
Stealing anew the affections.

Willi

FLORA'S INTERPRETER 175

H.OSE, DAMASK. Native of Syria and Damascus,

Rosa damOSCena. *°y* .naturalized in Europe. It

is dehciously sweet Flowers a

beautiful pink, verging towards a

purple.

BASHFUL LOVE.

Ah, see the virgin rose, how sweetly she
Doth first put forth with bashful modesty,
That fairer seems the less ye see her may.

SENTIMENT.

Before the winning breeze could steal

Morn's sprinkled pearl-drops from the rose,

I culled it, that it might reveal
The tale my lips dare not disclose.

Its leaves of virgin tenderness,

Where I have pressed a kiss for the«, —
Its blush of maiden bashfulness,

Both tell of love and secrecy.

F.S.HilL

176 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

, OSS. Native of the south of Fairope. Stem
« „ three or four feet high— (lowers at the top

flt-sa muscosa. of (ho ^ranch hrg^ very fragrant> of £

bright crimson hue — flowers double.
SUPERIOR MERIT.

The moss rose that, at fall of dew,
Was freshly gathered from its stem,
She values as a ruby gem.

Cottage Girl.

SENTIMENT.

It is sure,

Stamped by the seal of nature, that the well
Of Mind, where all its waters gather pure,
Shall with unquestioned spell all hearts allure.
Wisdom enshrined in beauty — O! how high
The order of that loveliness.

Percival.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 177

H.OSE BUD. (JJ/OSS.) A rote bud jnst opening, accord-

Rosa muscosa. ^p.10 .Berk'ey>8 Utopia, u •

declaration of love.
CONFESSION.

The gentle budding rose, quoth she, behold,
That first scant peeping forth with morning beams,
Halt' ope, half shut, her beauties doth unfold
In its fair leaves, and less seen fairer seems.

Fairfax.

SENTIMENT.

The sporting sylphs that course the air,
Unseen, on wings that twilight weaves,

Around the opening rose repair,

And breathe sweet incense o'er its leaves

With sparkling cups of bubbles made,
They catch the ruddy beams (if day,

And steal the rainbow's sweeter shade,
Their blushing favorite to array.

They gather gems with sunbeams bright,
From Boating clouds and falling showers;

They rob Aurora's locks of light,

To grace their own fair queen of flowers.

Thus, thus adorned, the speaking rose

Becomes a token fit to tell
Of things that words can ne'er disclose,

And nought but this reveal s*o well.

Then take my flower, and let its leaves
Beside thy heart be cherished near,

While that confiding heart receives
The thought it whispers to thine ear.

Token, 18SO

178 FLORA'S INTERPRETER

ROSE, CHINA. Native of Japan and China. It u «
J>*a* v..,7/;/7^^^ shrub of luxuriant growth, flowers in

Rosa multiflora. clugter8) gaid to be white ^ China> but

here they are pink.

*

GRACE.

Resplendent rose/ the flower of flowers,
Whose breath perfumes Olympus' bowers,
Whose virgin blush of chastened dye
Enchants so much our mental eye.

Greek Poet — trans, by Moore.

SENTIMENT.

Oh, say not, wisest of all the kings

That have risen on Israel's throne to reign —

Say not, as one of your wisest things,
That grace is false, and beauty vain!

Is beauty vain, because it will fade ?

Then are earth's green robe and heaven's light

vain;
For this shall be lost in evening's shade,

And that in winter's sleety rain.

But earth's green mantle, pranked with flowers,
Is the couch where life with joy reposes;

And heaven gives down, with its light and showers,
To regale them, fruits — to deck them, roses.

And while opening flowers in such beauty spread,
And ripening frtiits so gracefully swing, —

Say not, O king, as you just now said,
That beauty or grace is a worthless thing.

Pierpont.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 179

ROSE, MUNDI. An American rose, being a variety of

striped or variegated with red and white,
YOU ARE MERRY.

Thou blooming rose! —

Blown in the morning — thou shalt die ere noon:
What boots a life that in such haste forsakes thee?
Thou 'rt wondrous frolic being to die so soon,
And passing proud a little color makes thee.

Sir Richard Fanshau..

SENTIMENT.

The merry heart, the merry heart,

Of heaven's gift I hold thee best;

And they who feel its pleasant throb,

Though dark their lot, are truly blest. —

From youth to age it changes not,

In joy and sorrow still the same ;

When skies are dark, and tempests scowl,

It shines a steady beacon flame.

It gives to Beauty half its power,

The nameless charms worth all the rest—

The light that dances o'er a face,

And speaks of sunshine in the breast.

If Beauty ne'er have set her seal,

It well supplies her absence too,

And many a cheek looks passing fair,

Because a merry heart shines through.

JVew England Magazine, PM. L

180 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ROSE, MuSK. Tb° mask rose b exceedingly beautiful.

Rosa moscliata Natiye of Barbar>'. ™d fro»> ils l*^

the essential oil is obtained, called • Otto
of Roses.'

CHARMING.

As Venus wandered midst the Idalian bower,
And watched the loves and graces round her play,
She plucked a musk rose from its dew-bent spray,
1 And this,' she cried, ' shall be my favorite flower;
For o'er its crimson leaflets I will shower
Dissolving sweets, to steal the soul away.'

SENTIMENT.

Lady, I 've looked upon thy face;
And beauty, kindness, virtue, grace,

Have all combined to make thee fair.
O! may thy fortunes be as bright
As are those eyes, whose gentle light

Thy features now so softly wear.

U. S. Literary Gazette.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 18 1

, RED. Then; is no emblem more significant

Rosa rubrifolia. °r >'oul!l> b,ca"ly* ™d "!no???c?»

than a rose-inul. Tha rubrifolia u
a native of North America.

HAY YOU EVER BE PURE AND LOVELY.

Be your heart as pure,
Your check as bright
As the spring rose.

Miss London.

SENTIMENT.

I would that thou mightst ever be

As beautiful as now;
That time might ever leave as free

Thy yet unwritten brow!
I would life were all poetry,

To gentle measures set,
That nought but chastened melody

Might dim thine eye of jet.
I would — but deeper things than these

With woman's lot are wove,
Wrought with intenser sympathies,

And nerved by purer love.
By the strong spirit's discipline,

By the fierce wrong forgiven,
By all that wrings the heart of sin,

Is woman won to heaven.
I fear thy gentle loveliness,

Thy witching tone and air,
And thine eyes' beseeching earnestness,

May be to thee a snare ;
For silver stars may purely shine,

The waters taintless flow;
But they who kneel at woman's shrine,

Breathe on it as they bow.
£"e may fling back the gift again,

But the crushed flower will leave a stain.

16

182 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ROSE, RED-LEAVED. Native of Switzerland and Sa-

Rosa rubrifolia. v^ ^^che^'leaves Ha/fa

and tube of the calyx are more
or less tinged with red.

BEAUTY AND PROSPERITY.

Here this rose',
sh blown,) shall
For that like it her blush is beauti

(This one fresh blown,) shall be my Mary's portion,
'.ful.

Barry Cornwall.
SENTIMENT.

Thou art beautiful, young lady; —

But I need not tell thee this,
For few have borne unconsciously

Their spell of loveliness;
And thou art very happy,

For life's sky is bright above thee,
Affection's smile is round thee,

And all who know thee love thee.

Thou art not here — and yet methinks

Thy form is floating by,
With the dark tress shading pleasantly

The softly brilliant eye:
A smile is sleeping on thy lip —

And a faint blush melting through
The light of thy transparent cheek,

Like a rose-leaf bathed in dew.

/. O. mittier.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 183

ROSE, CHINESE, DARK. Native of China, but natu-

Rosa semperflorens. ™\™din Europe. Leaf-

lets of a dark shining
green. Flowers solitary.

FORSAKEN.

Go, lovely rose,
Tell her that wastes her time and me,

That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.

Then die! that she,
The common fate of all things rare,

May read in thee,

How small a part of time they share,
That are so wondrous sweet and fair.

Walltr.

SENTIMENT.

Farewell! the tie is broken. Thou
With all thou wert to me hast parted:

I feel it on my burning brow,

I would not else be broken-hearted.

I may not weep — I cannot sigh,
A weight is pressing on my breast;

A breath breathes on me witheringly;
My tears are dry, my sighs supprest,
I almost wish my spirit were at rest.

Farewell! I 've loved thee much! — I feei

That my idolatry was deep;
I know my heart can never heal,

Till in the grave my passions sleep.
Yet I upbraid thee not, my love;

T was all I had to offer thee,
Love in its own simplicity.

How could I deem thou wouldst approve,

How hope to draw an angel from above.

Will*.

184 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ROSE-BUD, WHITE.
Rosa alba.

TOO YOUNG TO LOVE.

Untouched upon its thorny stem,
Hangs the pale rose unfolding.

•Hurcfu.

SENTIMENT.

Turn to thy books, my gentle girl —
They will not dim thine eyes;

That hair will all as richly curl,
That blush as sweetly rise.

Turn to thy friends — a smile as fond,

On friendship's lip may be,
And breathing from a heart as warm

As love can ofler thec.

Turn to thy home! affection wreathes

Her dearest garland there;
And, more than all, a. mother breathes

For thee — for thce, her prayer.

Too soon— oh! all too soon will come

In later years the spell,
Touching with changing hues thy path,

Where once but sunlight fell.

Mrs. Otgood.

TLORA'S INTERPRETER. 185

ROSE, WHITE. T^10 rose was sacred to Venus, and the

Rosa alia. faMewiys, w;is originally white, but the

goddess buing wounded by a thorn, liiA
blood

On the while rose being shed,
Wade it lurcvcr niter red.

SADNESS.

The bonnie white rose, it is withering and a'.
Allan Cunningham.

SENTIMENT.

We have long dreamed of happiness, long known
Joys which were more than mortal, long have felt
The bliss of mingled hearts and blended souls,
And long have thought the vision was eternal:
It vanishes, and now I am a wretch,
And what will be thy sorrows none can tell.

PeropoJ.

ANSWER.

My heart is with its early dream;

It cannot turn away
To seek again the joys of earth,

And mingle with the gay.
The dew-nursed flower that lifts its brow

Beneath the shades of night,
Must wither when the sunbeam sheds

Its too resplendent light.
My heart is with its early dream,

And vainly love's soft power
Would seek to charm that heart anew,

In some unguarded hour.
I would not that some gentle one

Should hear my frequent sigh;
The deer that bears its death-wound, turns

In loneliness to die.

Mr*. Embury.
16*

186 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ROSE, WHITE, (withered.} Native of Europe The
'„ 'v ' bush is five or six ft et high.

ba. Leaves dark green. Flow-

ers usually pure white, but
sometimes tinged with a
delicate blush.

I AM IN DESPAIR.

A single rose is shedding

Its lovely lustre meek and pale:

It looks as planted by despair —

So white, so faint — the slightest gale

Might whirl the leaves on high.

Byron.

SENTIMENT.

O, life and all its charms decay,

Alluring, cheating, on they go;
The stream forever steals away

In one irrevocable flow:
Its dearest charms, the charms of love,

Are brightest in their bud, and die ;
Whene'er their tender bloom we move,

We touch the leaves, they withered lie.

And on, with many a step of pain,

Our weary race is sadly run; ,

And still, as on we plod our way,
We find, as life's gay dreams depart,

To close our being's troubled day,
Nought left us but a broken heart.

PercivaL

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. /87

.loSE, T HORNLESS. Native of Switzerland and North

•$ Amerfca. The stem is five or

six feet high, without a prickle—
and Lemaistre asaerta that the
thorns on the other species have
been produced by cultivation —
hence the emblem, ingratitude.
Flowers crimson.

INGRATITUDE.

We eye the rose upon the brier,
Unmindful that the thorn is near.

Burnt.

SENTIMENT.

No! it is not for wasted days I pine,

Nor for my slandered youth's long banishment,
Not for the wand of fame, so coldly mine;

It seemeth but a thorn in malice rent
From its right root, to wound my heart's content:
My foes I scorn and tread on — but my wo
Is the cold hollowness of friends to know.

A. A Lock*

188 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ROSE, YELLOW. . T^6 vcjjow ro*e 'w n nativc of Tta|y-

D i tff1 Thi'Y arc both single and double;

and 'have the odor of a pine-apple.

LET US FORGET.

I never heard

Of any true affection, but 't was nipt
With care, that like the caterpillar eats
The leaves of the spring's sweetest book — the rose.

Middlcton.

SENTIMENT.

I look upon the fading flowers

Thou gavest me, lady, in thy mirth,
And mourn, that with the perishing hours

Such fair things perish from the earth;
For thus, I know, the moment's feeling

Its own light web of life unweaves,
The dearest trace from memory stealing,

Like perfume from their dying leaves —
The thought that gave it, and the flower,
Alike the creatures of an hour.

And thus it better were, perhaps —
For feeling is the nurse of pain,

And joys that linger in their lapse
Must die at last — and so are vain.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 189

ROSE, YORK AND LANCASTER. This species was the
Rosa versicola. common ,log- rose,-the

red adopted by the
house of Lancaster—
the white by tliat of
York.
WAR.

Long wns the strife your ancient hail
In Britain's hapless land pursued;
Which for a whole revolving age
Drenched cither rose in kindred blood.

Fable of the White and Red Rose.

SENTIMENT.

Love, we part but to meet,

When our foes shall be trodden like dust at our feet
No felti-rs, no tyrants our souls shall enslave,
While the ocean shall roll, or the harvest shall wave.
We go, to return when the strife shall he done,
When the field shall be fought, and the battle be won;
When the sceptre is smitten, and broken the chain,
We come back in freedom, or come not again.
Ours are no hirelings trained to the fight,
With cymbal and clariot, all glittering and bright,
No prancing of chargers, no martial display,
No war-trump is heard from our silent array;
O'er the proud heads of freemen our star-banner waves ,
Men firm as their mountains, and still as their graves,
To-morrow shall pour out their life-blood like rain; —
We come back in triumph, or come not again.

No fearing, no doubting, thy soldier shall know,
When here stands his country, and yonder her foe;
One look at the bright sun, one prayer to the sky,
One glance where our banner floats glorious on high:
Then on, as the young lion bounds on his prey;
Let the sword flash on high, fling the scabbard away ;
Roll on, like the thunderbolt over the plain! —
We come back in glory, or come not again.

Thomas Gray, Jr.

190 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ROSE, CAMPION. (Corn-Cockle.) Clan 10.

in cornfields.

LOVE'S MESSENGERS.

Yonder is a girl, who lingers
Where wild honeysuckle grows,
Mingled with the brier Rose.

H. Smith.

SENTIMENT.

Do you like letter-reading ? If you do,

I have some twenty dozen very pretty ones:

Gay, sober, rapturous, solemn, very true,
And very lying stupid ones, and witty ones;

On gilt-edged paper, blue perhaps, or pink,

And frequently in fancy-colored ink.

And then the seals — a silver crescent moon,
With half a line of melting French or Latin ;

The flower which has an eye as bright as noon,
And leaf as delicate as softest satin,

Called the 'Forget-me-not,' but known as well

By twenty names I cannot stop to tell.

A leaf with half a dozen words, that mean
' I only change in death ; ' a gentle dove,

With an Italian motto. You have seen
Fifty such, if you 've ever been in love,

And had occasion to write billet-doux,

Or had them written in return to you.

Sargtnt

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 191

ROSEMARY. Class 2. Order 1. Indigenous

flosemortntW OJficinalis. \° Eur°Pe- A!J ^ergreen shrub
Leaves smooth, dark green and
shining. Flowers axillary.

REMEMBRANCE.

There 's rosemary, that 's for remembrance;
Pray you, love, remember.

Shakspeare.

SENTIMENT.

There are moments in life that are never forgot,
Which brighten, and brighten, as time steals away;
They give a new charm to the happiest lot,
And they shine on the gloom of the loneliest day :
These moments are hallowed by smiles and by tears,
The first look of love, and the last parting given.

Percival.

ANSWER.

But then to part! to part when Time

Has wreathed his tireless wing with flowers,
And spread the richness of a clime

Of fairy o'er this land of ours.
When glistening leaves and shaded streams

In the soft light of autumn lay,
And, like the music of our dreams,

The viewless breezes seemed to stray —
T was bitter then to rend the heart

With the sad thought that we must part:
And, like some low and mournful spell,

To whisper but one word — farewell.

Park Benjamin.

192 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

R.UE. C7os*10. Order I. Indigenous to Eu-

J?«if/» rr^nwenleno rope, but naturalized in America. The

Ruta graveolens. wQ'fl hcrb haa an ncri(J pungcnt 8meU

Flowera are a dull yellow.

DISDAIN.

Here did she drop a tear; here in this place
I '11 set a bank of Rue, sour herb of grace.

Shakspeare.

SENTIMENT.

I am one,

Who finds within me a nobility
That spurns the idle pratings of the great,
And their mean boast of what their fathers were,
While they themselves are fools effeminate,
The scorn of all who know the worth of mind
And virtue.

PtrcivaL

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 193

SAFFRON Clots 17. Order 1. Indigenous

Carthamus tinctorius. »° Europe and India. Flowers

yellow. The species coerulius

baa blue flowers.

MARRIAGE.

They shall wear

The Bridal Saffron; all their locks shall bloom
With garlands; and their blazing nuptial torches,
And hymeneal songs, prepare the way.

MUman.

SENTIMENT.

Far from the home of thy young days,

Thy lot calls thee;
Far from the looks of love that girdled round

Thy infancy.

Thou givest up thy unstained heart,

A priceless dower;
Its treasures lavishing, as summer clouds

Their fulness pour.

Thy smile shall fill thy husband's home

With sunlike rays;
And on that virgin brow shall light

The matron's grace.

The thought of duties well performed

Shall wing thine hours;
And new affections in thy heart

Shall spring like flowers.

JV. E. Magazint, VaL EL

194 FLORA'S INTERPRETED.

SAGE. Class 2. Order 1. A large genus, ami

e / '* «/K .\,~7,'o widely disseminated over the world.

Salvia officinahs. ,n w/rm regiona the flowerg are large

and beautiful. The common garden
sage is medicinal. Flowers bluish.

DOMESTIC VIRTUES.

Cur moriatur homo, cui salvia crescit in hortol
How can a man die in whose garden there grows sage ?

Old Proverb.

SENTIMENT.

Howe'er the sceptic scoffs, the poet sighs,
Hope oft reveals her dimly shadowed dreams;
And seraph joy descends from pale blue skies,
And, like sweet sunset on wood-skirted streams,
Peace breathes around her stilling harmonies,
Her whispered music, — while her soft eye beams;
And the deep bliss that crowns the household hearth,
From all its woes redeems the bleeding earth.

Hail! ye fair charities ! the mellow showers
Of the heart's spring-time! from your rosy breath
The way-worn pilgrim, though the tempest lowers,
Breathes a new being in the realms of death,
And bears the burden of life's darker hours,
With cheerless aspect o'er the lonely heath,
That spreads between us and the unfading clime
Where true Love triumphs o'er the death of Time.

8. L. Fairfid>L

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 195

SCABIOUS. Class 4. ^Order 1. Native of

Scabiosa atro-purpurea. ]^*^v^we&-?crto™w

pic, red, and variegated. The
dark purple has been called
' Mourning Bride.'

UNFORTUNATE ATTACHMENT.

The Scabious blooms in sad array,
A mourner in her spring.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

My heart too firmly trusted, fondly gave "

ItsHf to all its tenderness a slave;

I had no wish but thee, and only thee;

I knew no happiness but only while

Thy love-lit eyes were kindly turned on me.

But thou hast gone, and left me here to bear
The weight of loneliness.

Percival.

ANSWER.

The human heart! 't is a thing that lives

In the light of many a shrine;
And the gem of its own pure feelings gives

Too oft on brows that are false to shine
It has many a cloud of care and wo

To shadow o'er its springs,
And the One above alone may know

The changing tune of its thousand strings.
Mrs L.P Smith.

196 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

SENSITIVE PLANT. Classie. Order 10. Nativeoftha
Tlfimr, i ctmviiinn East and West Indies, and South

Mimosa sensiliva. America Tj]ere are severa, spcde9<

Flowers pale purple, contracting at
night, and also when touched.

SENSITIVENESS.

Weak with nice sense the chaste Mimosa stands,
And from each touch withdraws her timid hands;
Oft as light clouds o'erpass the summer glade,
Alarmed she trembles at the moving shade.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

Like the Mimosa shrinking from

The blight of some familiar finger —
Like flowers which but in secret bloom,

Where aye the sheltered shadows linger,
And which beneath the hot noon-ray
Would fold their leaves and fade away —
The flowers of Love in secret cherished,
In loneliness and silence nourished,

Shrink backward from the searching eye,
Until the stem whereon they flourished,
Their shrine, the human heart, has perished,

Although themselves may never die.

ft ***** * *

Life's sunniest hours are not without
The shadow of some lingering doubt —
Amid its brightest joys will steal
Spectres of evil yet to feel —

Its warmest love is blent with fears,
Its confidence a trembling one —

Its smile — the harbinger of tears —
Its hope — the change of April's sun!
A weary lot — in mercy given,
To fit the chastened soul for heaven.

J. G. Whittier.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 197

StfOW-BALL. Clou 6. Order 3. A gonna found

Viburnum OVUlllS. in Enr°Pe> America, and Japan.

The kind we cultivate is the Euro-
pean shrub. Cymes large. Flowers
white, berries scarlet.

THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN.

The snow-flower tall ;
And throwing up into the darkest gloom
Of neighboring cypress, or more sable yew,
Her silver lobes, light as the foa aing surf
That the wind severs from the . roken wave.

Cowper.

SENTIMENT.

Should sorrow o'er thy brow

Its darkened shadow fling,
And hopes that cheer thee now,

Die in their early spring;
Should pleasure, at its birth,

Fade like the hues of even,
Turn thou away from earth —

There 's rest for thee in heaven.

If ever life should seem

To thee a toilsome way,
And gladness cease to beam

Upon its clouded day: —
' If, like the weary dove,

O'er shoreless ocean driven,
Raise thou thine eyes above —

There 'a rest for thee in heaven

But O, if thornless flowers

Throughout thy pathway bloom,
And gayly fleet ttie hours,

Unstained by earthly gloom; —
Still let not every thought

To this poor world be given,
Nor always be forgot

Thy better rest in heaven.

17* /. H. Bright

198 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

SNOW-DROP. Class6. Order I. Native of Europe.

GalantkuS Ilivalis. yzr\™\c™ Tlowcrs whltTa/'iiiilk^

and the earliest that appear hi the

upring.

FRIENDSHIP IN ADVERSITY.

The snow-drop, herald of Jhe spring,
In st( rm or sunshine born.

Bernard Barton.

SENTIMENT.

We part —

But this shall be a token thou hast been
A friend to him who plucked these lovely flowers,
And sent them as (^tribute to a friend,
And a remembrance of the few kind hours
Which lightened on the darkness of my path.

The friend

Who smiles when smoothing down the lonely couch,
And does kind deeds, which any one can do
Who has a feeling spirit, — such a friend
Heals with a searching balsam.

Percival.

'S INTERPRETER 199

SORREL, WiLD. Class 10. Order 6. A large genus
OxallS found in Europe, America, and the Cape

of Good Hope. There is a species in
Virginia with pink, lilac, or bright yel-
low flowers — farther north it is pale
yellow, delicately penciled with pink or
purple.

PARENTAL AFFECTION.

Sorrel, that hangs her cups,
Ere their frail form and streaky veins decay,
O'er her pale verdure, till parental care
Inclines the shortening stems, and to the shade
Of closing leaves her infant race withdraws.

Gitborne.

SENTIMENT.

•

The sea of ambition is tempest-tost,
And thy hopes may vanish like foam;

But when sails are shivered and rudder lost,
Then look to the light of home ; —

And there, like a star through the midnight cloud,
Thou shall see the beacon bright;

For never, till shining on thy shroud,
Can be quenched its holy light.

The sun of fame — 't will gild the name,

But the heart ne'er felt its ray;
And fashion's smiles, that rich ones claim,

Are but beams of a wintry day.

And how cold and dim those beams would be,
Should life's wretched wanderer come!

But, my son, when the world is dark to thee,
Then turn to the light of home.

Jllr*. Half.

200 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

SPEEDWELL. Class 2. Order 1. Common to Europe,

America, and Northern Asia. The Vir-
ginia Speedwell is very beautiful. Flow-
era white, blue, blush-colored, or purple.

FEMALE FIDELITY.

I saw upon the mountain height,

And mid the mountain air,
Veronica her flowers put forth,

As garden blossoms fair, —
Like faithful love that blooms to bless
A palace or a wilderness.

Anon,

SENTIMENT.

The mild deep gentleness, the smile that throws
Light from tfie bosom o'er the pure pale brow,
And cheek that flushes like the May-morn rose;
The all reposing sympathies that grow
Like violets in the heart, and o'er our woes
The silent breathings of their beauty throw.
Oh! every deed of daily life doth prove
The depth, the strength, the truth of woman's love.

Then side by side, hearts wedded in their youth,
In their meek blessedness expand and glow;
And though the world be faithless, still their truth
No pause, no change, no soil of time they know!
They hold communion with a world in sooth,
Beyond the stain of sin, the waste of wo;
And the deep sanctities of well-spent hours
Crown their fair fame with Eden's deathless flowera.

8. L. FairJUld.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 201

STAR OF BETHLEHEM. Class 6. Order i. An ex-

Siberia, and the Cape of Good
Hope. Umbellatum is the only
American species. Roots bul-
bous. Flowers white. Six
petals — no calyx.

RECONCILIATION.

Pale as the pensive cloistered nun,
The Bethlehem Star her face unveils,
When o'er the mountain peers the sun,
But shades it from the vesper gales.

SENTIMENT.

I trust the frown thy features wear,

Ere long into a smile will turn;
I would not that a face as fair

As thine, beloved, should look so stern;
The chain of ice that winter binds,

Holds not for aye the sparkling rill;
It melts away when summer shines,

And leaves the waters sparkling still:
Thus let thy cheek resume the smile

That shed such sunny light before;
And though I left thee for a while,

I '11 vow to leave thee love, no more.

Wm. Leggett.

202 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

ST. JOHN'S WORT. Class 18- Order 4. A genus of
at least one hundred species, dis-

perged oyer the wor,d Flower8

yellow and brilliant. The plant
possesses medical properties.

ANIMOSITY.

Hypericum was there, the herb of war,
Pierced through with wounds, and seamed with many a scar.

Garland of Flcra.

SENTIMENT.

Let my curse be upon him —

The faithless of heart!
liet the smiles that have won him,

In frowning depart!
Let his last cherished blossom

Of sympathy die,
And the hopes of his bosom

In shadows go by!
Ay, curse him — but keep

The poor boon of his breath,
Till he sigh for the sleep

And the quiet of death!
Let a viewless one haunt him

With whispers and jeer,
And an evil one daunt him

With phantoms of fear.
Be the fiend unforgiving

That follows his tread;
Let him walk with the living,

Yet gaze on the dead.

/. O. Wkittier.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 203

SUMACH, VENICE. Class 5. Order 3. A pretty exten-
RIlUS COtinuS. 8ive genus> an<1 found "» a" temperate

climates. The species cultivated in
gardens has elongated, feathery foot-
stalks. Flowers greenish or purplish;
berries red. The leaves and stalks,
when bruised, aromatic.

INTELLECTUAL EXCELLENCE.

Yes, charms may live when youth is past,
More pure than decked its brightest hours;

Like Rhus, that shows, in autumn's blast,
A fruitage fairer than the flowers

An* .

SENTIMENT.

Ay, for the soul is better than its frame,
The spirit than its temple. Beauty gives
The features perfectness, and to the form
Its delicate proportions: she may stain
The eye with a celestial blue — the cheek
With carmine of the sunset; she may breathe
Grace into every motion, like the play
Of the least visible tissue of a cloud:
She may give all that is within her own
Bright cestus — and one glance of intellect,
Like stronger magic, will outshine it all.

The glory of the human form
Is but a perishing thing, and Love will droop
When its brief grace hath faded. But the mind
Perisheth not, and when the outward charm
Hath had its brief existence, it awakes,
And is the lovelier that it slept so long.

WiUi»

204 FLORA'S INTERPRETER

SUN-FLOWER, DWARF. Class 19. Order 3. Ex-

cies in India and Egypt.
The Jndicus is cultivated in
gardens. Flowers bright
yellow, and turn with the
sun.

YOUR DEVOUT ADORER.

The Sun-flower turns to her god, when he sets,
The same look which she turned when he rose.

Moore.

SENTIMENT.

As turns

The flower to meet the sun,
E'en though, when clouds and storms arise,
It be not shone upon, —
Thus, dear one, in thine eyes I see
The only light that beams for me.

As thinks

The mariner of home,

When doomed through many a dreary waste
Of waters yet to roam, —
Thus doth my spirit turn to thee,
My guiding star o'er life's wild sea.

As bends

The Persian at the shrine
Of his resplendent god, to watch
His earliest glories shine ;
Thus doth my spirit bow to thee,
My heart's own radiant deity.

Mn. Embury.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 205

SUN-FLOWER, TALL. Same class and order as preced-

Heliantkus annuus. *«• Native o{. M™co a"d Pern-

III those countries it is said to grovr
to the hejght of twenty feet, and
the flowers are two feet broad.

LOFTY AND PURE THOUGHTS.

Great Ifclianlhus climbs the upland lawn,
And bows in homage to the rising dawn;
Imbibes with eagle eye the golden ray,
And watches, as it moves, the orb of day.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

She had a mind,

Deep and immortal, and it would not feed
On pageantry. She thirsted for a spring
Of a serener element, and drank
Philosophy, and for a little while
She was allayed, till presently it turned
Bitter within her, and her spirit grew
Faint for undying waters. Then she came
To the pure fount of God — and is ut hirst
No more — save, when the ' fever of the -world*
Falleth upon her, she will go and breathe
A holy aspiration alter heaven.

Willu.
18

206 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

SWEET BRIER. Class 12. Order 13. The American

Rosa suaveolcns.

fragrant

SIMPLICITY.

Yes, lovely flower, I find in thee .

Wild sweetness which no words express,
And charms in thy simplicity,

That dwell not in the pride of dress.

John Langhorne.

SENTIMENT.

Oh, much I fear thy guileless heart, its earnestness of feeling,
Its passions and its sympathies to every eye revealing —
I tremble for that winning smile, and trusting glance of thine,
And pray that none but faithful ones may bow before thy shrine.

Oh! when the breath of flattery is warm upon thine ear,
And manly brows are bending in humble homage near,
May no dream of tenderness arise, which earth may not fulfil,
And uo fountain open in thy heart, which Time hath power to
chill.

» /. O. FTAtttier.

THE POESY OF FLOWERS. 207

SWEET WlLLIAM. Clots 10. Order 2. The speciei
Diatltkus barbatUS. D' barbatm i'^'genous to Germa-
ny, but naturalized in our country.
Flowers aggregate, one stem sup-
porting a large and brilliant bunch
of blossoms. Root perennial.

A SMILE.

I like this flower, Sweet William, on its leaf

The smile the giver wore I see,
And though that smile, so sweet, was passing brief

This simple flower can fix its memory.

Anon,

SENTIMENT.

A human smile! how beautiful!

Sometimes its blissful presence seems
Sweet as the gentle 'airs which lull
To sleep the holy flowers of Gul,

Which blossom in the Persian's dreams:

A lovely light whene'er it beams
On beauty's brow, in beauty's eye,
And not one token lingers nigh,
On lip, or eye, or cheek unbidden,
To tell of anguish vainly hidden!
But oh, there is a smile which steals

Sometimes upon the brow of care,
And, like the north's cold light, reveals

But gathering darkness there.
You 've seen the lightning-flash at night

Play briefly o'er its cloudy pile,
The moonshine tremble on the height,
Where winter glistens cold and bright ;
And like that flash, and like that light,

Is sorrow's vain and heartless smile!

/. G. Whittitr.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

STRINGA, CAROLINA. Class 12. Order i. ThisBpe-

Pkiladelpkus inodorus. cie9 of 'heu •»?* pranS° » a

• naUve of the Southern States.

Flowers scentless, large, four
white oval petals, spreading open.
The species grandiftorus in found
also at the South.

DISAPPOINTMENT.

Not every flower that blossoms bright,

Diffuses sweets around;
Not every scene hope gilds with light,

Will lair be found.

SENTIMENT.

They are mockery all — these skies, these skies,

Their untroubled depth of blue —
They are mockery all — those eyes, those eyes,

Which seem so warm and true;
Each tranquil star in the one that lies,
Each meteor glance that at random flies

The other's lashes through!
They are mockery all, these flowers of spring,

Which her airs so softly woo —
And the love to which we would madly cling,

Ay, it is mockery too!
The winds are false which the perfume stir,

And the looks deceive which we sue;
And love but leads to the sepulchre,

Which flowers spring to strew.

FLORA S INTERPRETER. 209

THISTLE, COMMON. Class 19. Order 1. This large

Carduus cameolatus. 6en.us is J*11™1 » th« temperate

regions of the Northern hemis-
phere, chiefly in Europe. Flow-
ers purple.

MISANTHROPY.

Tough Tfiistle choked the fields, and killed the corn,
And an unthrifty crop of weeds was born.

Dryden.

SENTIBIENT.

Had I but pearls of price — did golden piles
Of hoarded wealth swell in my treasury,

Easy I 'd win the fawning flatterer's smiles,
And bend the sturdiest Stoic's iron knee;
For gold alone buys this world's courtesy.

I grieve not that my gold could buy their grace,

But that a man should need a toy so base.

Oh! for an island in the boundless deep,

Where rumor of the world might never come:

Oh! for a cave where weltering waves might keep
Eternal music — round which night-winds roam,
Mixing incessant with the surging foam:

Here might I rest and smile in liberty,

Forgotten live, since I unwept must die.

A . A. Locke,

ANSWER.

'T is not well

To let the spirit brood
Thus darkly o'er the cares that swell

Life's current to a flood.
As brooks, and torrents, rivers, all
Increase the gulf in which they fall,
Such thoughts, by gathering up the rills
Of lesser griefs, spread real ills;
And with their gloomy shades conceal
The land-marks Hope would else reveal.

18* Mrs, Dinniet.

210 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

THORN APPLE. Class 5. Order 1. Found in

Dutura stramonium. fur°Pe; but Probf ly ? native of

South America, tliough now nat-
uralized in Europe and the East
Flowers white and blue, very
beautiful, but poisonous The
plant has lately been used as a
medicine, and appears to operate
specifically upon the optic nerve
of the eye.

I DREAMED OF THEE.

Canst thou give visions of futurity,
Stramonium, in the deep and death-like trance
Thy potent spell upon the spirit binds?
Let them be pleasant. I would die in hope.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

Thy head was on my shoulder leaning;

Thy hand in mine was gently prest;
Thine eyes, so soft, and full of meaning,

Were bent on me, and I was blest.
No word was spoken — all was feeling,

The silent transport of the heart;
The tear that o'er thy cheek was stealing,

Told what words could ne'er impart.
And could this be but mere illusion?

Could fancy all so real seem?
Here fancy's scenes are wild confusion;

And can it be I did but dream?

I 'm sure I felt thy forehead pressing,

Thy very breath stole o'er my cheek;
I 'm sure I saw those eyes confessing

What the tongue could never speak.
Ah! no, 't is gone, 't is gone, and never

Mine such waking bliss can be ;
Oh, I would sleep, would sleep forever,

Could I thus but dream of thee.

Fritbt*.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 211

THYME. Class 14. Order 1. A genus in-

Thymw serpyllum. dio'™°«* to the South of Europe.

fj naturalized in America and hug-

land. Flowers blue and purple;
stems creeping.

TIIRIFTLNESS.

The thrifty Thyme a home can find,

Where smiles the sun, and breathes the wind.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

The churl who holds it heresy to think,
Who loves no music but the dollar's clink,
Who laughs to scorn the wisdom of the schools,
And deems the first of poets first of fools,
Who never found what good from science grew,
Save the grand truth, that one and one make two,—
'T is he, across whose brain scarce dares to creep
Aught put thrift's parent pair — to get, to keep!

How cold he hearkens to some bankrupt's wo,
Nods his wise head, and cries — ' I told you so;
' The thriftless fellow lived beyond his means,
1 He must buy brants — I made my folks eat beans.'

Sprague.
ANSWER.

Ye may plant the living flowers

Where the living fountains glide,
And beneath the rosy bowers

Let the selfish man abide:
And the birds upon the wing,

And the barks upon the wave,
Shall no sense of freedom bring; —

All is slavery to the slave:
Mammon's close-linked bonds have bound him,

Self-imposed and seldom burst;
Though heaven's waters gushed around him,

He would pine with earth's poor thirst.

Mrt. Halt.

212 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

TUBEROSE. Class 2. Order 6. Native of th»

tuberosa.

with pink — resembles a hyacinth —
very odoriferous. Corolla monope-
taloua. No calyx. Root perennial.
A SWEET VOICE.

Eternal spring, with smiling verdure here,
Warms the mild air, and crowns the youthful year:
Tho Tuberose ever breathes, and violets blow.

GartA.

SENTIMENT.

If you have seen a summer star,
Liquidly soft, and faintly far,
Beaming a smiling glance on earth,
As if it watched the floweret's birth, —
Then you have seen a light less fair
Than that young maiden's glances were.
Dark fell her tresses; — you have seen

A rent cloud tossing in the air,
And showing the pure sky between

Its floating fragments, here and there,—
Then you may fancy, faintly, how
The falling tress — the ring-like curl,
Disclosed or shadowed o'er the brow
And neck of that fair girl.
Her cheek was delicately thin,
And through its pure, transparent white,
The rose hue wandered out and in,
As you have seen the inconstant light
Flush o'er the northen sky of night.
Her playful lip was gently full,

Soft curving to the graceful chin,
And colored like the fruit which glows
Upon the sunned pomegranate boughs;
And oh, her soft, low voice might lull

The spirit to a dream of bliss,
As if the voices, sweet and bland,
Which murmur in the seraph land,
Were warbling in a world like this.

/. G. Wliittier

FLORA'S INTERPRETER 213

TULIP, RED. Class 6. Order 1. Nativeofger-

T.tJ;*™ « />W/*«/t "a- Flowers in their wild state

Tuhpa gesnenana. crimsop rQrolla beluhaped ^ gix

petals. No calyx. Sweet-scented.
A DECLARATION OF LOVE.

Tulip — whose leaves, with their ruby glow,
Hide the heart that lies burning and black below.

SENTIMENT.

If spirits, pure as those who kneel

Around the throne of light above,
The power of beauty's spell could feel,

And lose a heaven for woman's love,'— -
What marvel that a heart like mine

Enraptured by thy charms should be!
Forget to bend at glory's shrine,

And lose itself — ay heaven — for thee!

Memorial

ANSWER.

What is a poet's love?

To write a girl a sonnet;
To get a ring, or some such thing,

And fustianize upon it.

Trust not to them who say,

In stanzas, they adore thee;
O, rather sleep in churchyard clay,

With maudlin cherubs o'er thee !

O. W. Holm**.

214 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

TULIP, VARIEGATED. Class and Order as the preced
"* The Incthod of making a
tulip variegated or striped, is by
transplanting them from a rich
soil to one meagre and sandy.
It weakens the plant.

BEAUTIFUL EYES.

Tulips with every color that shines

In the radiant gems of Serendib's mines.

Garland of Flora,

SENTIMENT.

The-bright black eye, the melting blue,
I cannot choose between the two.
Ah! many lids Love lurks between,
Nor heeds the coloring of his screen;
And when his random arrows fly,
The victim falls, but knows not why.
Gaze not upon his shield of jet,
The shaft upon the string is set;
Look not beneath his azure veil,
Though every limb were cased in mail.

Well, both might make a martyr break
The chain that bound him to the stake;
And both, with but a single ray,
Can melt our very hearts away;
And both, when balanced, hardly seem
To stir the scales, or rock the beam;
But that is dearest, all the while,
Which wears for us the sweetest smile.

O. W. Holme*

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 216

TULIP TREE. Clou IS. Order 13. The

Liriodendron tulipifera. An'orica» TuliP *e°. or ye»°w

r J poplar, bears a flower resem-

bling a small tulip, variegated
with yellow and orange. The
batk of this tree is aromatic,
and it is celebrated besides for
iu size and beauty.

FAME.

Fame's bright star, and glory's swell,
In the flowers of the Tulip tree are given.

Percival.

SENTIMENT.

Come! shake your trammels off! let fools rehearse
Their loves nnd ruptures in unmeaning chime;
Cram close their crude conceits, in mawkish verse,
And torture hackneyed thoughts in tuneless rhyme;
But tliou shall soar in glorious verse sublime!
With heavenly voice of music, strength and fire,
Waft wide the wonders of thy native clime;
Witli patriot pride each patriot heart inspire,
Till Europe's bards are mute before Columbia's lyre.

'T is true no fairies haunt our ' verdant meads,'

No grinning imps deform our blazing hearth:

Beneath the kelpies' fang no traveller bleeds,

Nt gory vampires taint our holy earth,

No spectres stalk to frighten harmless mirth,

Nor tortured demon howls amid the gaie;

Fair reason checks those monsters in their birth;

Yet have we lay.of love and horrid tale,

Would dim the manliest eye, and make the bravest pale.

And there are scenes to touch the poet's soul,

And deeds of arms to wake the lordly strain.

Shall Hudson's billows unregarded roll?

Has Warren fought, Montgomery died in vain ?

Shame! that w ile every mountain, shore and plain,

Hath theme for truth's proud voice, or fancv's wand,

No native bard the patriot harp hath ta'en,

But left to minstrel of a foreign strand

To sing the beauteous scenes of Nature's loveliest land!

J. R. f^rnfc*.

216 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

VERVAIN. Clast 14- Order 2. An American

fs, f nt „ genus with one exception, the species
fastata. *ffioinalitt found in Europe. Flowen.
^ deep or pale blue, abundant in our
north-western territories.

SENSIBILITY.

Verbena, in thy pensive grace,

The emblem of the feeling heart I trace.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

Gentle as angel's ministry

The guiding hand oflove should be,

Which seeks again those chords to bind

Which human wo hath rent apart —
To heal again the wounded mind,

And bind anew the broken heart.
The hand which tunes to harmony
The cunning harp whose strings are riven,
Must move as light and quietly
As that meek breath of summer heaven,
Which woke of old its melody; —
And kindness to the dim of soul,
Whilst aught of rude and stern control

The clouded heart can deeply feel,
Is welcome as the odors fanned
From some unseen and flowery land,

Around the weary seaman's keel.

/. G. Wkiitier.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 217

VERNAL GRASS. Clots 3. Order 2. Native of Europe
"I1? ^A The A. odoratum nato-
ralized in America. Sweet-scented.

WE MAY BE POOR, BUT WE WILL BE HAPPY.

Two gentle shepherds, and their sister wives,
With thee, Antlwxa, lead ambrosial lives:
Closed in a green recess, unenvied lot,
The blue smoke rises from their turf-built cot:
Bosomed in fragrance, blush their infant train,
Eye the warm sun, or drink the silver rain.

Darwin.

SENTIMENT.

Joy for the present moment! joy to-day!

Why look we to the morrow?
Mingle me bitters to drive cares away;
Nothing on earth can be forever gay,

And free from sorrow.

My purse is very slim, and very few

The acres that I number;
But I am seldom stupid, never blue;
My riches are an honest heart and true,
And quiet slumber.

ferjmfc
19

218 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

VlOLET, BLUE. ClastS. Order 1. The genus Vk
within its proper limits is almost equf •
ly divided between Europe and tb
temperate parts of North America.
Flowers bright blue.

FAITHFULNESS.

Violet is for faithfulness,

Which in me shall abide ;
Hoping, likewise, that from your heart

You will not let it slide.

Shakspeart't Sonnet*.

SENTIMENT.

And wert thou other than thou art —

Less generous, kind, confiding,
The love that lives in my true heart

Were not the less abiding.
E'en thy neglect I might sustain,

'T would chill my heart — not break it;
Its tenderness would still remain —

Thy falsehood could not shake it.

Mrs. JS. M. Well*.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 219

VlOLET, WHITE. Class 5. Order 1. This specie*

Viola blanda. has ver^ odorous flowers.

MODESTY.

It has a scent, as though love, for its dower,

Had on it all its odorous arrows tost;
For, though the rose has more perfuming power,

The violet (haply cause 't is almost lost,
And takes us so much trouble to discover)

Stands first with most, and always with a lover.

Barry Cornwall.

SENTIMENT.

The maid whose manners are retired,
Who patient waits to be admired,
Though overlooked, perhaps, a while
Her modest worth, her modest smile, —
O, she will find, or soon, or late,
A noble, fond and faithful mate,
Who, when the spring of life is gone,
And all its blooming flowers are flown,
Will bless old Time, who left behind
The graces of a virtuous mind.
******

T is nature moulds the touching face :
T is she that gives the living grace,
The genuine charm that never dies,
The modest air, the timid eyes,
The stealing glance, that wins its way
To where the soul's affections lay; —
T is nature, and 't is she alone,
That gives the bright celestial zone, —
The zone of modesty, the charm
That coldest hearts can quickest warm;
Which all our best affections gains,
And, gaining, ever still retains.

J. K. Pauldmt

220 FLORA S INTERPRETER.

VlOLET, YELLOW. The on'y species of Viola found on
Vinln niiJtnJH the Plulu9 of M's8ouri> fronl the COQ-

Yiola nuttalli. fluence of the riv

Manden. Flowers small, yellow,
purplish on the under side.

ftURAL HAPPINESS.

When beechen buds begin to swell,
And woods the blue-birds' warble know,
The yellow violet's smiling bell
Peeps from the last year's leaves below.

Bryant.

SENTIMENT.

How cheap

Is genuine happiness, and yet how dearly
Do we all pay for its base counterfeit!
We fancy wants, which to supply, we dare
Danger and death, enduring the privation
Of all free nature offers in her bounty,
To attain that, which, in its full fruition,
Brings but satiety. The poorest man
May taste of nature in her element,
Pure, wholesome, never cloying ; while the richest,
From the same stores, does but elaborate
A pungent dish of well-concocted poison.
Thanks to my humble nature, while I Ve limbs,
Tastes, senses, I 'm determined to be rich;
So long as that fine alchymist, the sun,
Can transmute into gold whate'er I like
On earth, in air, or water} while a banquet
Is ever spread before me, in a hall
Of Heaven's own building, perfumed with the breath
Of nature's self, and ringing to the sounds
Of her own choristers.

/. JV. Barktr.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 221

VlRGIN's BOWER. Classic. Orderl3. Agertnsofabont
Clematis viorna. 30 species, distributed over the world—

several indigenous to America. The

C. Viunui found inthe Southern Htates.

Root perennial. Flowers purple.

There is a kind with white flower*.

FILIAL LOVE.

And gently, as Clematis' clasping stem
Twines the sear leaf, and screens it from the blast-
So filial hearts their tender care must cast
Around the mother-plant that once supported them

Jlnon.

SENTIMENT.

Yes, I have left the golden shore,

Where childhood midst the roses played:

Those sunny dreams will come no more,
That youth a long bright sabbath made

Yet while those dreams of memory's eye
Arise in many a glittering train,

My soul goes back to infancy,

And hears my mother's song again'

And while my soul retains the power
To think upon each faded year,

In every bright or shadowed hour,
My heart shall hold my mother dear.

The hills may tower — the waves may rise,

And roll between my home and me;
Yet shall my quenchless memories
Turn with undying love to thee.

W. G. Clark
19*

FLORA S INTERPRETER.

WALL FLOWER Class IS. Order 2. A genus found

Cheiranti™ cfceiri.

in the form of a cross — yellow, and
of sweet perfume. It grows often,
in the old world, around decaying
buildings, falling towers, etc.

FIDELITY IN MISFORTUNE.

Not in prosperity's bright morn,

Cheirantkus' golden light
Is lent, her splendors to adorn,

And make them still more bright:
But in adversity's dark hour,

When glory is gone by;
It then exerts its gentle power,

The scene to beautify.

Bernard Barton.

SENTIMENT.

Yes, love! my breast, at sorrow's call,

Shall tremble like thine own;
If from those eyes the tear-drops fall,

They shall not fall alone.
Our souls, like heaven's aerial bow,
Blend every light within their glow,

Of joy or sorrow known;
And grief, divided with thy heart,
Were sweeter far than joy apart.

Anon. (Albany Adwrtiter.)

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 223

WATER LILY, WHITE. Clou 13. Order i.
M/mphu odorata.

digenous to die United
The genus is principally found
in Europe and India. Very
splendid. Flowers white usu-
ally, sometimes red, and in ooa
species blue.

PURITY OF HEART.

Innocence shines in the Lily's bell,
Pure as a heart in its native heaven.

PtreivaL

SENTIMENT.

Innocent maid, and snow-white flower,
Well are ye paired in your opening hour;
Thus should the pure and lovely meet,
Stainless with stainless, and sweet with sweet.

White as those leaves just blown apart,
Are the folds of thy own pure heart:
Guilty passion and cankering care
Never have left their traces there.

Throw it aside in thy weary hour;
Throw to the ground the fair white flower;
Yet as thy smiling years depart,
Keep that white and innocent heart.

824 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

WlLLOW, WEEPING. Clots 22. Order 2. Thblarga

&rfu JUytate. CViKfift C

rope and America. The S. Ba-
bylonica is most cultivated.

FORSAKEN LOVER.

In love, the sad forsaken wight
The Willow garland weareth.

Dmytou.

SENTIMENT.

Little know

The cold unfeeling crowd, how strong the love,
The first warm love of youth; how long it lives
Unfed and unrequited; how it bears
Absence and cruel scorn, and still looks calm.

Her heart was chilled;
And, dead to all its softest sympathies,
It cherished but one feeling, hopeless love, —
Love stronger by endurance, ever growing
With the decay of life and all its powers.

PtrcivaL

FLORA S INTERPRETER.

WlTCH HAZEL. Clattl. Order 2. An American

mer. Color of the flowers yellow.
Twigs of the Witch Hazel have
been used as divining rods to
discover secret treasures and

A SPELL.

Mysterious plant! whose golden tresses wave
With a sad beauty in the dying year,
Blooming amid November's frost severe,
Like a pale corpse-light o'er the recent grave.
If shepherds tell us true, thy wand hath power,
With gracious influence, to avert the harm
Of ominous planets.

Token, 1831.

SENTIMENT.

Our witches are no longer old

And wrinkled beldames, Satan-sold,

But young and gay and laughing creatures,

With the heart's sunshine on their features;

Their sorcery — the light which dances

When the raised lid unveils its glances,

And the low-breathed and gentle tone

Faintly responding unto ours,

Soft, dream-like as a fairy's moan

Above its nightly closing flowers.

7. 0. Whitticr.

226 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

WHEAT. Clots S. Order 2. It u supposed

Triticum coninum. J10 8Pec£» Salivum °riginated »

Egypt The gcnua seems mostly
European. Cultivated.

PROSPERITY.

Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, bears
A nodding garland of the ripened ears,
Betokening prosperous days.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

What shouldst thou have ever known
Of that blind goddess which deludes the world?
Or what of Care ? Oh, if the joys of life
Are linked with wealth, and fortune's gifts alone
Can make us happy, then thy cup of life
Is full to overflowing!

H. Pickering.

ANSWER.

My life has been like summer skies,

When they are fair to view;
But there never yet were hearts or skies,

Clouds might not wander through.

Mn. L. P. Smith.

FCORA'S INTERPRETER. 227

WOODBINE. ClattS. Order*. The Bams

Very fragrant.

FRATERN \L LOVE.

And though that were chaplets on their hede
Of freshe Woodbind be such as never were
To love untrue in word, in thought, in dede.

Chaucer.

SENTIMENT.

Yes, dear one, to the envied train

Of those around, thy homage pay;
But wilt thou never kindly deign

To think of him that 's far away?
Thy form, thine eye, thine angel smile,

For many years I may not see;
But wilt thou not sometimes the while,

My sister, dear, remember me ?

Remember me, I pray — but not

In Flora's gay and blooming hour,
When every brake hath found its note,

And sunshine smiles in every flower;
But when the falling leaf is sear,

And withers sadly from the tree,
And o'er the ruins of the year

Cold autumn weeps, — remember me.

Remember me — not, I entreat,

In scenes of festal week-day joy ;
For then it were not kind or meet

Thy thoughts thy pleasures should alloy;
But on the sacred sabbath day,

And, dearest, on thy bended knee,
When thou for those thou lov'st dost pray, —

Sweet sister, then remember me.

Rlu-ard Eixrett.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

WOOD SORREL. Class W. Order 5. Chiefly found in tho

^ /• East, though a few species are natives of

America. The variety cultivated for iu

beauty is from China. Flowers yellow,

white, etc., ' pencilled ' with crimson.

MATERNAL TENDERNESS.

Sorrel, that hangs her cups,
Ere their frail form and streaky veins decay,
(3'er her pale verdure, till parental care
Inclines the shortening stems, and to the shade
Of closing leaves her infant race withdraws.

Gitbornt.

SENTJMEWT.

It hath passed, my daughter! fare thee welll

Pledged is the faith, inscribed the vow;
Yet let these gushing tear-drops speak

Of all thy mother's anguish now;
And when, on distant stranger shores,

Love beams from brighter eyes than mine,
When other hands thy tresses weave,

And other lips are pressed to thine, —

O, then remember her who grieves,

With parent-fondness, for her child ;
Whose lonely path, of thee bereft,

Is like some desert lone and wild,
Where erst a simple floweret grew,

Where erst one timid wild bird sung;
Now lonely, dark, and desolate,

No bird nor flower its shades among.

When care shall dim thy sunny eye,

And one by one the ties are broken
That bind thee to the earth, this kiss

Will linger yet — thy mother's token ;
T will speak her changeless love for thee, —

Speak what she strives hi vain to tell,
The yearnings of a parent's heart; —

My darling child, farewell! farewell!

American Common-Place Book of Poetry.

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 229

YARROW. Cla*»l9. Order 11. Native of

. 5-fijssty: XT

Plant reputed medicinal.

CURE FOB THE HEART-ACHE.

The Yarrow, wherewithal he stopped the wound-
made gore.

Drayto*.

SENTIMENT.

Rapture is not the aim of man; in flowers
The serpent hides his venom, and the sting
Of the dread insect lurks in fairest bowers.
We were not made to wander on the wing ;
Rut if we would be happy, we must bring
Our buoyed hearts to a plain and simple school.

Percival.

ANSWER.

Yes, fair as the siren, but false as her song,
The world's painted shadows that lure us along;
Like the mist on the mountain, the foam on the deep,
Or the voices of friends that we greet in our sleep,
Are the pleasures of earth, and I mourn that to heaven
I gave not the heart which to folly was given.

Mrt. Hale.
20

230 FLORA'S INTERPRETER.

Clots 21. Order 16. A genus of nine species,
Taxus found in Japan and the Cape of Good Hope, in

Europe and the Americas. A tree associated
with melancholy and funereal gloom.

PENITENCE.

The mourning Few, that breathes of gloomy care,
Of early doom and penitential prayer.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

We will not ask what thorn has found
Keen entrance to thy bosom fair, —

If love hath dealt a deathless wound,
Or deeper folly woke despair.

We only say, the sinless clime,

On which is bent thy streaming eye,

Hath pardon for the darkest crime,
Though erring man the boon deny.

We only say, the prayerful breast,
The crystal tear of contrite pain,

Hath power to ope the portal blest,

Where pride and pomp have toiled in vain.
Token for 1828

FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 231

ZlNNIA. ClastlQ. Order 2. Native of South

Zinnia multiflora. America, except the species multillo-
ra. round on the banks of the Mis-
sissippi; flowers solitary, red; rays
red or yellow. Home of this genus in
Peru have purple or yellow Sowers.

ABSENCE.

The Zinnia's solitary flower,

Which blooms in forests lone and deep,
Are like the visions fair and bright,

That faithful, absent hearts will keep.

Anon.

SENTIMENT.

I formed for thee a small boquet,

A keepsake near thy heart to lay,

Because 't is there, I know full well,

That charity and kindness dwell.

And in some lonely, silent hour,

When thou shalt yield to memory's power,

And let her fondly lead thee o'er

The scenes that thou hast past before,

To absent friends and days gone by, —

Then should these meet thy pensive eye,

A true memento may they be,

Of one whose bosom owes to thee

So many hours enjoyed in gladness,

That else perhaps had passed in sadness,

And many a golden dream of joy,

Untarnished and without alloy;

O, still my fervent prayer will be,

' Heaven 9 choicest blessings rest on thee.*

Miss OoulcU

THE

POESY OF FLOWERS.

THE SWEET BRIER.

OUR sweet, autumnal western-scented wind,
Robs of its odors none so sweet a flower,
In all the blooming waste it left behind,
As that the Sweet-brier yields it ; and the shower
\\Yts not a rose that buds in beauty's bower
One hnlf so lovely; — yet it grows along
The poor girl's pathway, by the poor man's door,—
Such nre the simple folk it dwells among;
And humble as the bud, so humble be the song.

I love it, for it takes its untouched stand,
Not in the vase that sculptors decorate;
Its sweetness all is of my native land;
And e'en its fragrant leaf has not its mate
Among the perfumes which the rich and great
Buy from the odors of the spicy East.
You love your flowers and plants; and will you hale
The little four-leaved rose that I love best,
That freshest will awake, and sweetest go to rest?

/. O. C. Brainard.
20*

234 THE POESV OF FLOWERS.

THE FLOWER SPIRIT.

I am the spirit that dwells in the flower;

Mine is the exquisite music that flies,
When silence and moonlight reign over each bower

That blooms in the glory of tropical skies.
I woo the bird, with his melody glowing,

To flit in the sunshine and warble its strain;
And mine is the odor, in turn, that bestowing,

The songster is paid for his music again.

There dwells no sorrow where I am abiding;

Care is a stranger, and troubles us not;
And the winds, as they pass, when too hastily riding

I woo, and they tenderly glide o'er the spot.
They pause, and we glow in their rugged embraces

They drink our warm breath rich with odor and song .
They hurry away to their desolate places,

And look for us hourly, and think of us long.

Who, of the dull earth, that 's moving around us,

Would ever imagine, that, nursed in a rose,
At the opening of spring, our destiny found us

A prisoner until the first bud should unclose ;
Then, as the dawn of light breaks upon us,

Our winglets of silk we unfold to the air,
And leap off in joy to the music that won us,

And made us the tenants of climates so fair?

W. G. Simmt.

THE POESY OF FLOWERS. 236

TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN.

Thou blossom, bright with autumn dew,
And colored with the heaven's own blue,
Thou openest when the quiet light
Succeeds the keen and frosty night.

Thou comest not when violets lean

O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen,

Or columbines, in purple drest,

Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest.

Thou waitest late and com'st alone,
When woods are bare, and birds are flown,
And frosts, and.shortening days portend
The aged year is near its end.

Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye
Look through its fringes to the sky,
Blue — blue — as if that sky let fall
A flower from its cerulean wall.

T would that thus, when I shall see
The hour of death draw near to me,
Hope, blossoming within my heart,
May look to heaven as I depart.

Bryant

236 THE POESY OF FLOWERS.

TO THE TRAILING ARBUTUS *

Thou comest when Spring her coronal weaves,
And thou hidest thyself mid dead strewn leaves;
Where the young grass lifts its tender blade,
Thy home and thy resting-place are made;
And in the spot of thy lowly birth,
Unseen, thou bloomest, like modest worth:
The richest jewel, the rarest gem
May never glow in a diadem.

What knowest thou of the glittering pride
Of vales that blush, like a jewelled bride—
When the pomp of roses and gilded flowers
Springs mid the falling of Summer showers ?
What canst thou know of those breathing skies,
Adorned with the diamonds of paradise —
Or the sunrise crown, or the golden flow
Of noontide streams in their deep warm glow?

Thou comest from Winter's cold caress,
To rejoice in the young Spring's loveliness:
But thou seest the sky when the cloud appears,
And the blue eye of heaven is dim with tears,
And, cold and clear, o'er thy dewy bed
The starbeam lustre of night is shed;
And no bright-tinting flashes are seen,
Though morn be cloudless and eve serene.

Yet, flower of modesty, born alone —
When the leaves of Autumn still lie strown,
Art thou not dearer, in Spring's first prime,
Than the fairest rose of the Summer time ?
Thus in her pathway of joy and light,
Away from the idle gazer's sight,
'T is meet that Beauty should pass her hour,
Lonely and modest, like thee, sweet flower!

P. Benjamin.

* The Trailing Arbntus is a sort of strawberry vine, found in
New England in March, the earliest of all spring flowers.

THE POESY OF FLOWERS. 237

THE GROUND LAUREL.

1 love thee, pretty nursling

Of vernal sun and rain;
For thou art Flora's firstling,

And leadest in her train.

When far away I found thee,

It was an April morn;
The chilling blast blew round thee,

No bud had decked the thorn.

And thou alone wert hiding

The mossy rocks between,
*Vhere, just below them gliding,

The Merrimack was seen.

And while my hand was brushing
The scary leaves from thee,

It seemed that thou were blushing,
To be disclosed to me.

Thou didst reward my ramble

By shining at my feet,
When, over brake and bramble,

I sought thy lone retreat:

As some sweet flower of pleasure

Upon our path may bloom,
Mid rocks and thorns, that measure

Our journey to the tomb.

Mitt H. F. Gould.

238 THE roMY or FLOWER*.

THE LILY OF THE VALLEY.

I had found out a sweet green spot,
Where a lily was blooming fair;
The din of the city disturbed it not,
But the spirit that shades the quiet cot
With its wings of love was there.

I found that lily's bloom,

When the day was dark and chill;
It smiled like a star in a misty gloom,
And it sent abroad a soft perfume,

Which is floating around me still.

I sat by the lily's bell,

And watched it many a day;
The leaves, that rose in a flowing swell,
Grew faint and dim, then drooped and fell

And the flower had flown away.

I looked where the leaves were laid,

In withering paleness, by,
And, as gloomy thoughts stole on me, said,
There is many a sweet and blooming maid,

Who will soon as dimly die.

PrrctW

THE POEST OF FLOWERS.

NIGHT-BLOWING CEREUS.

Strange flower! oh, beautifully strange!

Why in the lonely night,
And to the quiet watching stars,

Spread 'st thou thy petals white?

There 's sleep among the breathing flowers,

The folded leaves all rest —
Child, butterfly, and bee are hushed —

The wood-bird 's in its nest. —

Thou wak'st alone of earth's bright things,

A silent watch is thine,
Offering thy incense, yotive gift,

Unto night's starry shrine.

Morn glows, and thou art gone for aye,

As bow of summer cloud;
Like thy sister flower of Araby,*

Thou unto death hast bowed.

Once flowering, wilt thou never more

Give thy pale beauty back?
O, canst thou not thy fragrance pour

Upon the sunbeam's track ?

Thou flower of summer's starlit night,

When whispering farewell,
Bear'st thou a hope, from this dim world,

Mid brighter things to dwell ?

Thou hast unsealed my thought's deep fount,

My hope as thine shall be,
And my heart's incense I will breathe

To Heaven, bright flower, with thee.

Anne Hope.

• Gum CertM of Arabia— which sheds h* flowen u scon u
they are blown.

240 THE FOESY OF FLOWERS

THE CROCUS SOLILOQUY.

Down in my solitude under the snow,
Where nothing cheering can reach me —

Here, without light to see how to grow,
I '11 trust to nature to teach me.

I will not despair, nor be idle, nor frown,

Locked in so gloomy a dwelling;
My leaves shall run up, and my roots shall run down,

While the bud in my bosom is swelling.

Soon as the frost will get out of my bed,

From this cold dungeon to free me,
I will peep up with my little bright head,

And all will be joyful to see me.

Then from my heart will young petals diverge,

As rays of the sun from their focus;
I from the darkness of earth will emerge,

A happy and beautiful Crocus.

Gayly arrayed in my yellow and green,

When to their view I have risen,
Will they not wonder how one so serene

Came from so dismal a prison?

Many, perhaps, from so simple a flower

This little lesson may borrow, —
Patient to-day, through its gloomiest hour,

We come out the brighter to-morrow.

Mitt II. F. Gould,

THE POESY OF FLOWERS. 241

TO A WITHERED ROSE.

Pale flower — pale, fragile, faded flower —

What tender recollections swell,
What thoughts of deep and thrilling power

Are kindled in thy mystic spell ?

A charm is in thy faint perfume,

To call up visions of the past,
Which, through my mind's o'ershadowing gloom,

' Rush like the rare stars, dim and fast.'

And loveliest shines that evening hour,
More dear by time and sorrow made,

When thou wert culled, (' Love's token flower!')
And on my throbbing bosom laid.

Sweet thoughts and hallowed sympathies,
That shun the hours of worldly jar,

Unfold beneath the silent skies,

Like flowers that love the evening star.

And fancy, that, supine and dullj

Slumbers on folded wings all day,
Then waking, wild and beautiful,

Soars like the unprisoned bird away.

On eve's pale brow, one star burned bright,
Like heavenward hope, whose soothing dream

Is veiled from pleasure's dazzled sight,
To shine on sorrow's diadem.

A lingering halo in the west

Poured golden hues o'er tower and tree;
But loveliest did its radiance rest,

With tenderest beam, sweet flower, on thee.

Bright as the tears thy beauty wept,

The dew-drops on thy petals lay,
Till evening's silver winds had swept

T'hy cheek, and kissed them all away.
21

242 THE FOEST OF FLOWERS.

They waved the wild flowers on the hill,
And pilfered from their balmy store,

Caught freshness from the murmuring rill
And sighed along its reedy shore.

But 't was not zephyrs fraught with balm,
Nor the rich bloom of evening skies,

Which lent that scene its deathless charm,
A well-spring of sweet memories.

It chanced that Love's wild wandering wing
A moment hovered near the earth,

Touched of my heart some trembling string,
And called the hidden music forth.

Earth hath not — oh! hath heaven so sweet
A charm as that once only known,

When first affection's accents greet
The ear that drinks their thrilling tone ?

Alas! this pledge of early love —

Now emblem of its faded beam,
Seems the sole relic left to prove

That all was not a blissful dream.

Long years have passed, pale faded flower,
And life like thee hath lost its bloom;

But still the memory of that hour

Survives, like thine own faint perfume.

Oh, early love, too fair thou art

For earth — too beautiful and pure —

Fast fade thy day-dreams from ^he heart,
But all thy waking woes endure.

Mr*. Whitman.

THE POESY OF FLOWERS 243

TO THE HOUSTONIA CERULEA.

How often, modest flower,
I mark thy tender blossoms, where they spread
Along the turfy slope, their starry bed,

Hung with the heavy shower.

Thou comest in the dawn
Of Nature's promise, when the sod of May
Is speckled with its earliest array,

And strewest with bloom the lawn.

'T is but a few brief days,
1 saw the green hill in its fold of snow;
Hut now thy slender stems arise and blow.

In April's fitful rays.

I love thoe, delicate

And humble as thou art; thy dress of white,
And hliio, uud all the tints where these unite,

Or wrapped in spiral plait.

Or to the glancing sun,

Shining through checkered cloud, and dewy shower,
Unfolding thy fair cross. Yes, tender flower,

Thy blended colors run,

And meet in harmony,

Commingling like tHe rainbow tints; thy urn
Of yellow rises with a graceful turn,

And as a golden eye,

Its softly swelling throat
Shines in the centre of thy circle, where
Thy downy stigma rises slim and fair,

And catches, as they float,

A cloud of living air,
The atom seeds of fertilizing dust,
That hover, as thy lurking anthers burst.

And O! how purely there

244 THE POESY OF FLOWERS.

Thy snowy circle, rayed

With crosslets, bends its pearly whiteness round,
And how thy spreading lips are trimly bound

With such a mellow shade,

As in the vaulted blue,

Deepens at starry midnight, or grows pale,
When mantled in the full-moon's slender veil,

That calm ethereal hue.

I love thee, modest flower!
And I do find it happiness to tread,
With careful steps, along thy studded bed,

At morning's freshest hour;

Or, when the day declines,
And evening comes with dewy footsteps on,
And now his golden hall of slumber won,

The setting sun resigns

His empire of the sky,

And the cool breeze awakes her fluttering train;
I walk through thy parterres, and not in vain,

For to my downward eye,

Sweet flower! thou tellest how hearts
As pure and tender as thy leaf, as low
And humble as thy stem, will surely know

The joy that peace imparts

Pei cital.

THE POESV OF FLOWERS. 246

TO A WHITE CHRYSANTHEMUM.

Fair gift of Friendship! and her ever bright
And faultless image! welcome now thou art,

In thy pure loveliness, thy robes of white,
Speaking a moral to the feeling heart;

Unscathed by heats — by wintry blasts unmoved, —

Thy strength thus tested — and thy charm improved.

Emblem of innocence, which fearless braves

Lite's dreariest scenes, its rudest storm derides,

And floats as calmly on o'er troubled waves,

As where the peaceful streamlet smoothly glides;

Thou 'rt blooming now, as beautiful and clear

As other blossoms do when Spring is here.

Symbol of hope, still banishing the gloom

Hung o'er the mind by stern December's reign!

Thou cheer'st the fancy by the steady bloom,
With thoughts of Summer and the fertile plain,

Culling a thousand visions into play,

Of beauty redolent, and bright us May.

Type of a true and holy love ; the same

Through every scene that clouds life's varied page;
Mid grief — mid gladness — spell of every dream,

Tender in youth — and strong in feeble age!
The peerless picture of a modest wife,
Thou bloom 'st the fairest mid the frost of life.

Mrs. Dinnia,
21*

246 THE FOESY OF FLOWERS.

A FLOWER FROM MOUNT VEKNON.

Bright blossom! thou hast breathed the air

Around our hero's tomb —
What do the night-winds murmur there,

When skies are wrapped in gloom?
A dirge above the sleeping one,

Of giant heart and arm?
Above a race of glory run,

Whose memory has a charm
To thrill young hearts, and lift them up
To thirst for glory's gilded cup?

Sheds not the moon, in radiance there,

A brighter, holier light?
Look not the stars with smiles more fair,

From off the brow of night ?
Send not the dews, which bathe that steep,

A fragrant incense round,
As they were sacred tears, to weep

O'er fame that death has crowned?
Didst thou not bow thy head, bright gem
Of Nature's peerless diadem,
O'er him who sleeps in glory there,
Beneath a nation's grateful prayer?

Mrt. L. F Smitk.

THE POESY OK FLOWERS. £47

THE ALPINE FLOWERS.

Meek dwellers raid yon terror-stricken cliffs!
With brows so pure, and incense-breathing lips,
Whence are ye ? Did some white-winged messenger,
On Mercy's missions, trust your timid germ
To the cold cradle of eternal snows,
Or, breathing on the callous icicles,
Hid them with tear-drops nurse ye?

Tree nor shrub

Dare that drear atmosphere; no polar pine
Uprears a veteran front; yet there ye stand,
Leaning your cheeks against the thick-ribbed ice,
And looking up with brilliant eyes to Him
Who bids you bloom unblanched, amid the waste
Of desolation. Man, who, panting, toils
O'er slippery steeps, or, trembling, treads the verge
Of yawning gulfs, o'er which the headlong plunge
Into eternity, looks shuddering up,
And marks ye in your placid loveliness —
Fearless, yet frail — and, clasping his chill hands,
Blesses your pencilled beauty. Mid the pomp
Of mountain summits rushing to the sky,
And chaining the rapt soul in breathless awe,
He bows to bind you drooping to his breast,
Inhales your spirit from the frost-winged gale,
And freer dreams of heaven.

Mr*. Sigournty,

248 THE POESY OF FLOWERS.

THE THREE FLOWERS.

A Tulip blossomed one morning in May,

By the side of a sanded alley;
Its leaves were dressed in rich array,
Like the clouds at the earliest dawn of day,

When the mist rolls over the valley.
The dew had descended the night before,

And lay in its velvet bosom,
And its spreading urn was flowing o'er,
And the crystal heightened the tints it bore

On its yellow and crimson blossom.

A sweet red Rose, on its bending thorn,

Its bud was newly spreading,
And the flowing effulgence of early morn

Its beams on its breast was shedding;
The petals were heavy with dripping tears,

That twinkled in pearly brightness,
And the thrush in its covert filled my ears

With a varied song of lightness.

A Lily, in mantle of purest snow,

Hung over a silent fountain,
And the wave, in its calm and quiet flow,
Displayed its silken leaves below,

Like the drift on the windy mountain:
It bowed with the moisture the night had wept

When the stars shone over the billow,
And white-winged spirits their vigils kept,
Where beauty and innocence sweetly slept

On its pure and thoraless pillow.

Percival.

THE POESY OF FLOWERS.

THE FLOWER ANGELS.

As delicate form as thine, my love,

And beauty like thine have the angels above;

Yet man cannot see them, though often they come,

On visits to earth, from their native home;

Thou ne'er wilt behold them, but if thou wouldst

know

The houses in which (when they wander below)
The angels are fondest of passing their hours,
1 '11 tell thee, fair Lady, they dwell in the flowers!

Each flower, as it blossoms, expands to a tent,
For the house of a visiting angel meant;
From his flight o'er the earth he may there find re-
pose,

Till again to the vast tent of heaven he goes.
And the angel his dwelling-place keeps in repair,
As every good man of his mansion takes care;
All around he adorns it, and carpets it well,
And much he 's delighted within it to dwell.

True sunshine of gold, from the orb of day,

lie borrows, his roof with the beams to inlay;

All the hues of each season to aid him he calls,

And with them he tinges his chamber walls;

His bread he bakes from the flower's fine meal,

So mingled that hunger he never may feel;

He brews from the dew-drop a draught fresh and

good,
And every thing does which a housekeeper should.

And greatly the flowers, as they open, rejoice
That they are the home of the angel's choice;
But, O, when to heaven the angel ascends,
The flower falls asunder — the stalk sadly bends!
If thou, my dear Lady, in truth art inclined
The spirits of heaven beside thee to find,
Make Nature thy study, companion and lover,
And, trust me. the angels around thee will hover.

250 TUB POESY OF FLOWERS

A flower do but place near thy window glass,
And through it no image of evil can pass.
Abroad must thou go — on thy white bosom wear
A nosegay, and doubt not an angel is there,
burgee not to water, at break of the day,
The lilies, and thou shalt be fairer than they.
Place a rose near thy bed, nightly sentry to keep,
And angels shall rock thee on roses to sleep.

No vision of terror approaches the bed,

When his watch the angel around it has spread ,

And whatever bright fancy thy guardian to thee

Permits to come in, very good it shall be.

When thus thou art kept by a heavenly spell,

Shouldst thou, now and then, dream that I love thee

right well,

Be sure that with fervor and truth I adore thee,
Or an angel had ne'er set mine image before thee.
L. Bancroft. — (Translated from the German.)

THE POESY OP FLOWERS. 261

DEATH OF THE FLOWERS.

The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,

Of wailing wind*, and naked woods, and meadows brown and men,

Heaped in the hollow of the grove, the withered leaves lie deudj

They rustle to the eddying gust and to the rabbit's tread.

The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrub the jay,

And from the wood top calls the crow, through all the gloomy day.

Where are the flower*, the young fair dowers, that lately sprung and stootf,

In brighter light and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood .'

Alas ! they all are in their graves ; the gentle race of Mowers

Are lying in their lonely beds, with the (air and good of ours.

The rain Is falling where they lie : but the cold November rail

Calls not, from out the gloomy earth, the lovely ones again.

The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long agu,

And the wild-rose and the orchis died, amid the summer glow •,

tint on the hill the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood,

And the yellow sunflower by the brook, in autumn beauty stood,

Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falU the plague on men,

And the brightness of their smile was gone, from upland, glade and glen.

And now, when cornea the calm mild day, as still such days will coma,

To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home j

When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the tree* are still,

And twinkle In the smoky light the waters of the rill,

The south wind searches for the flowers, whose fragrance late he bore,

And sighs to find them in the wood and by the streams no more.

And then I think of one who In her youthful beauty died,
The fair meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side t
In the cold moist earth we laid her, when the forest cast the leaf;
And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief t
Yet not unmeet It was that one, like that young friend of oun,
0o gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flower*

Bryant

THE POESY OF FLOWERS.

TO THE PASSION FLOWER.*

' And the faint Passion Flower, the sad and holy,
Tell of diviner hopes.'

Hemaru.

Mystic and holy flower!

How many hallowed thoughts are blent with thee!
How bright the promise thou hast brought to me,

In my heart's dimmest hour.

A shadow of the past!
A token, a memorial thou art,
Bearing a spirit's tone unto my heart,

That through this life will last.

Strange and heart-lifting flower!
Records of Passion on thy leaves I trace,
Stamped with the seal of God in beauty-grace,

And mystery of his power.

Emblem of hope and love,
Uplifted in the sunshine of his smile,
May I, like thee, free from ' earth-stain and guile,

Glow wavingly above.

On my o'er-wearied breast,
A sense of holiness, sweet flower, thou 'st cast,
A yearning wish, that ' life's brief joy' were past,

For ' here we may not rest!'

Thy flowers for me unfold!
(Like shadowed waters beautiful they are,)
For them my lips have hymn — my heart a prayer,

To this dim world untold!

Thou hast waked in my breast
A Faith — a Hope — to which I firmly cling,
A Prayer — when my freed spirit takes its wing,

Like thee, flower, to be blest!

AnntHoj*.

•PaasiflbraCerulea.

FORTUNA FLORA.

1 A thousand flowers — each seeming one
That learned, by gazing on the sun,

To counterfeit his shining —
Within whose loaves the holy dew,
That falls from heaven, hath won anew

A glory — in declining ;
Love's language may be talked with these !
To work out choicest sentences,

No blossoms can be meeter ;
And such, being used in Eastern bowers,
Young maids may wonder if thu flowers

Or meanings be the sweeter."

Elisabeth B. Barrett.

EVERY new and innocent amusement is a contribu-
tion to the stock of the world's happiness. And we con-
sider it no trifling matter to have prepared a mystical
charm of flowers for the young, where, like bees, they
may gather honey while hovering over and enjoying the
beauty of these sweet gifts of nature.

The selections are from the best writers, and we
commend the practice of reading the particular authors
whose productions are mingled in the web of each par-
ticular destiny.

The manner of proceeding is this : — When you
wish to ascertain the particular flowers that best des-
ignate your condition, character, and probable success
22

254 . FORTUNA FLORA.

in life,Vook for the month in which you were born,
(say it is January 6th, — then the Olive would repre-
sent it ; ) against the day of the month is your natal
Jlower. Then ascertain to which of the temperaments
your constitution is the nearest assimilated ; if it be the
Lymphatic, you take the 1st flower of the same month,
(January) ; if Sanguine, the 8th flower ; if Bilious,
the 16th ; if Nervous , the 24th ; this is your tempera-
ment Jlower, or leaf ; say your temperament was San-
guine, you then have the Holly.

Then the flower which governs the month is called
your Jlower of destiny ; this for January is the Almond.
Look out the sentiment conveyed by each of these
flowers, reading them backwards, thus : — Almond,
hope ; Holly, domestic happiness ; Olive, peace. You
have thus the solution, which is for you to make true.

Heaven gives us opportunities ; their improvement or
neglect is our own work.

When you send a Bouquet, it is only necessary to
write on the slip of paper accompanying it the day of
tlie week, and the word " Friendship," — or " Love,'1'' —
or " Vicissitude." The person receiving the Bouquet
can refer to the " Sentiments for the Week," and solve
the meaning.

But a wider scope of reply may be desired, and
for this purpose the " Sentiments for the Months "
are prepared. Say that a young lady received a
flower on Saturday, (7th day of the week,) July
31st. She must add these two sums together, making
38. Then to these add the number of her own
temperament, say Nervous, — 4, making 42. Look
now for number 42 in the " Sentiments for the

FOETUNA FLORA. 255

Months." — She will then find the meaning conveyed
by the flower. In this manner presents of flowers on
any day of the month and week may be construed into
language.

In the same way a gentleman could learn the mean-
ing attached to the flower sent him.

The temperaments require a little explanation. We
have given the signs by which their difference is recog-
nized. Very few persons have a perfectly decided tem-
perament; but it can usually be known which is the
predominating influence.

TEMPERAMENTS.

The different temperaments are indicated by external
signs open to observation.

1. THE LYMPHATIC. This is distinguishable by a
round form of the body, softness of the muscles, and
usually a pale or bloodless complexion. The hair is
straight, and usually fair. The brain, as a part of the
system, is slow and languid in action, and a state of re-
pose is the heaven of the soul.

2. SANGUINE. This temperament is indicated by a
well-defined form, and a fair, ruddy countenance. The
eyes are usually blue and Sparkling, and the hair chest-
nut, oAen inclining to curl. The countenance is ani-
mated, and a love of exercise, gayety, and excitement
prevails. The heart seems always warm with hope.

3. BILIOUS. This temperament is recognized by
black hair, dark skin, moderate fulness and much firm-
ness of flesh, with harsh and irregular outline of person.

256 FORTUNA FLORA.

The eyes are black or dark brown, countenance usu-
ally shows strongly marked and decided features. En-
ergy and ambition are predominating characteristics of
this temperament.

4. NERVOUS. This temperament is known by fine,
thin hair ; thin skin ; small thin muscles ; quickness in
muscular movement ; gray or dark blue eyes ; pale
or fair skin ; and often delicate health. The whole ner-
vous system, including the brain, is predominantly ac-
tive. Intellectual excellence is the favorite aim of the
young who inherit this active temperament.

Such are the true conditions of each temperament.
Few persons, however, are really of an unmixed cast.
The Lymphatic usually has a dash of one (often two)
of the other temperaments. And so of the others ; each
combines, more or less, with its neighbor. Hence
those who are of a mixed type must refer to the day
of the week on which they were born for their temper-
ament flower. A person in whom the Lymphatic type
prevails, has a dash of the sanguine — and was born in
the month of January, on Friday, the sixth day of the
week ; then the sixth flower of the month — the olive
— will be his or her temperament flower. If the San-
guine type governed the same person, the sixth flower
of the second (or Sanguine) week — the hyacinth —
would govern ; and so on.

The " sentiments " selected for the " temperaments "
are intended to serve as warnings or encouragements,
according to the tenor of life pursued. These apoph-
thegms may also be taken as mottoes to designate tho
characteristics of persons of each temperament.

FORTUNA FLORA.

267

JANUARY.*

ALMOND, (flowering.) )
Qmygadalus. S ' '

Hope is the perennial flower of earth. — Milton.

HOPE.

1. Amaranth, 18

2. Anemone, 22

3. Bay-leaf, 30

4. Calla, 35

5. Carnation, (yellow,). 37
G. Olive, 138

7. Everlasting, 60

8. Holly, 85

9. Geranium, (oak,) . . 70

10. Wood-sorrel, .... 228

11. Hellebore, 84

12. Ivy, 97

13. Hyacinth, (purple,) . 93

14. Larkspur, 104

15. Gilly Flower, .... 76

16. Moss, 130

17. Laurel, (mountain,) . 107

18. Myrtle, 131

19. Lobelia, 118

20. Monkshood, .... 129

21. Mignonette, .... 127

22. Oak-leaf, 136

23. Rose, (white,) ... 185

24. Willow, 224

25. Rose-bud, (white,) . 184

26. Saffron, 193

27. Snow-drop, 198

28. Sumach, 203

29. Nightshade, 135

30. Verbena, 216

31. Yarrow, 229

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.

" You have waked me too soon."

II. SANGUINE.

" I'm determined to be rich."

III. BILIOUS.
On, on ; the goal will yet be won."

IV. NERVOUS.
"Now or never."

• The days of the month are characterized, each one, by a
flower. The figures on the right hand refer to the same flowers
in the pages of the " Interpreter."

FOHTUNA FLORA.

FEBRUARY.
AMARANTH. ? , . IMMORTALITY.

The good are immortal. — Burke.

1. Apocynum, 23

2. Balm, 28

3. Arbor-vit«e 25

4. Laurel, 106

5. Charaomile, 43

6. Primrose, 163

7. Flax, 61

8. Rue, 192

9. Dahlia, 54

10. Thorn-apple, .... 210

11. Cypress, 52

12. Vervain, .216

13. Geranium, 71

14. Locust, 119

15. Ox-eye, 141

16. Crocus, 50

17. Nettle, 134

18. Virgin's Bower, . . 221

19. Rose Mundi, .... 179

20. Marigold, (yellow,) . 124

21. Monks-hood, .... 129

22. Nasturtion, 133

23. Sage, 194

24. Speedwell 200

25. Wall-flower, .... 222

26. Yew, 230

27. Violet, (blue,) 218

28. Prickly Pear, .... 164

29. Cedar, 42

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.
" Slow and sure."

II. SANGUINE.

" I fly to meet thee."

in. BILIOUS.
; Do the works of love and duty.

IV. NERVOUS.
" Yearning for a higher good."

FOETUNi. FLORA.

259

MARCH.

LARKSPDR- I HAUGHTINESS.

Delphinium. >

Ambition makes the world unkind. — Mitt Barrett.

1. Crocus, 50

2. Doily Rose, 171

3. Star of Bethlehem,. 204

4. White Daisy,. ... 55

5. Daffodil, 53

6. Mignonette, 127

7. Bay-wreath, 31

8. Ivy 97

9. Lichen, Ill

10. Lily of the Valley,. 117

11. Rose of Burgundy, 169

12. Daffodil, 53

13. Pansy 142

14. Violet, (blue,). ... 218

15. Rose-bud, (red,) . . 181
Id. Hellebore, 84

17. Jonquil, 100

18. Snow-drop, 198

19. Laurel, 107

20. Geranium, 74

21. Cedar, 42

22. Cowslip, 49

23. Ice-plant, 95

24. Hyacinth, (blue,) . . 92

25. Periwinkle, (white,) 149

26. Primrose, 163

27. Pine, (pitch,) .... 152

28. Phlox, 150

29. Moss, 130

30. Lilach, (white,) . .113

31. Myrtle, 131

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.

« Why press so near each other ? w

II. SANGUINE.

" Come nearer ! come nearer ! "

in. BILIOUS.

•* Do you think of me as I think of you ?"

IV. NERVOUS.
" They who aspire, rise."

260

FORTUNA FLORA.

APRIL.

LAUREL.

VIRTUE.

Virtue is the health of the soul. — Mrs. Hah.

1. Sorrel, (wild,) 199

2. Cypress, 52

3. Hyacinth, (blue,) . . 92

4. Anemone, 22

5. Polyanthus, 158

6. Verbena, 216

7. Dandelion, 56

8. Eglantine, 58

9. Fir, 62

10. Rose, (damask,) . . 175

11. Rose, (campion,) . . 190

12. Lily, (yellow,) ... 115

13. Sage, 194

14. Peach Blossom, . . 146

15. Narcissus, 132

16. Box, 32

17. Clematis, 45

18. Arbor-rite, 25

19. Cardinal's Flower, . 40

20. Daisy, 55

21. Flowering Reed, . . 64

22. Peony, 147

23. Geranium, (scarlet,) 69

24. Hawthorn, 81

25. Houstonia, 91

26. Broome, 33

27. Rosemary, 191

28. Nightshade, 135

29. Oats, 137

30. St John's Wort, . . 202

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.
" An after-dinner reverie."

H. SANGUINE.
u I soar — I am drawn up like a lark.'

HI. BILIOUS.
" I am strong in what I seek."

IV. NERVOUS.
" A soul is raised by a thought"

FORTUNA FLORA.

261

MAY.

VIOLET. >

Viola odorata. S

, FAITHFULNESS.

Faithfulness keeps love ever young. — Goethe.

1. Daisy, 54

2. Butter-cup, 34

3. Cowslip, 49

4. Geranium,(nutmeg,) 68

5. Honeysuckle, .... 89
C. Lilach, (white,) ... 113

7. Lily of the Valley, 117

8. Grape, 78

9. Golden-rod, 77

10. Iris, 96

11. King-cup, 101

12. Lavender, 109

13. Vernal grass, .... 217

14. Queen's Rocket, . . 166

15. Rose, (Burgundy,) . 169
la Thyme, 211

17. Auricula, 26

18. Box, 32

19. Coreopsis, 48

20. Heart's Ease, .... 82

21. Crocus, 50

22. Hydrangea, 94

23. Honeysuckle,. ... 90

24. Magnolia, 123

25. Geranium, 71

26. Mezereon, 128

27. Nettle, 134

28. Violet, (white,) ... 219

29. Ice Plant, 95

30. Grass, 79

31. Monkshood,. . 129

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.
"The race is not to the swift."

H. SANGUINE.
u Hope on, hope ever."

HI. BILIOUS.
a Yearning to completeness."

IV. NERVOUS.
* We bring thee service emulous/

262

FORTT7NA FLOKA.

JUNE.

ROSE. ?

Rubus rosafolius. >

They that love early become like-minded. — Tapper.

LOVE

L

0

Lemon Blossom, .

. 110
167

16.
17

Sensitive Plant, . .
Saffron,

196
19?

a

4.

r,

Pink, (mountain,) .
Canterbury Bell, .
Balsamine

. 156
. 39
29

18.
19.

^0

Rose, (thornless,) . .
Pink, (variegated,) .
Peonv

187
157
147

6

Broome,

. 33

91

Pea,

144

7.

8.
9

Lily, (white,) . . .
Laurustinus, . . .
Lady's Slipper, . .

. 114

. 108
. 101

22.
23.
94

Bachelor's Button, .
Apocynum, . ...

27
23

105

10.

11

Harebell,
Geranium (Ivy,)

. 80
. 74

25.

°6

Rose, (musk,) ....
Lobelia,

180
118

K>.
13

Forget-me-not, . .
Elder,

. 65
. 59

27.

9ft

Rose, (white,) . . . .

185

109

i-l.
l~>

Columbine, . . . .
Sweet Brier

. 46

206

29.

30

Rose,(hund.leav'd,)

Kimr-CUD,

174
101

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.
" Thy whisper ia — ' To-morrow.' "

H. SANGUINE.
It is a holy thirst to long for love's requitaL"

HI. BILIOUS.
« The troubled river rusheth to the sea."

IV. NERVOUS.
" Thou hast not lost an hour."

FORTUNA FLORA.

263

JULY.

HIGH-SOULED.

The mind 'a the standard of the man. — Watts.

LlJT.

Lilium Carolineum.

1. Sweet Brier, . . . .

*>0fi

16. Laburnum, . ... 102

2. Rose, (Carolina,) . .
3. Pine, (spruce,) . . .
4. Sunflower, (tall,) . .
5 Rose (York and

170
153
205

17. Marigold, (yellow,) 124
18. Pink,, (red, double,) 154
19. Rose-bud, (moss,) . 177
20 Rosemary 191

Lancaster )

189

21. Saffron, . . 193

6. Syringa,

903

22. Scabious, 195

7. Violet, (yellow,) . .
8. Wheat,

220
996

23. Tulip, (red,) .... 213
24. Poppy, (red,) .... 159

9. Larkspur,

104

25. Pink, (Indian,) ... 155

10. Passion-flower, . . .
11. Hyacinth, (blue,) . .
12. Geranium (rose )

143
92
72

26. Rose-bud, (red,) . . 181
27. Water Lily, .... 223
28 Mezereon, 128

13 Calycanthus

36

of) Hydrangea, 94

14. Aloe,

16

30. Forget-me-not, ... 65

15. Rose, (moss,) ....

176

31. Hyacinth, (purple,). 93

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.

w Content with merely living."

II. SANGUINE.

"Come up, and feel what health there is in the frank
Dawn's delighted eyes."

III. BILIOUS.
" Once my love, my love forever."

IV. NERVOUS.

" They must upward still and onward, who would keep
abreast of Truth."

264

FORTUNA FLORA.

AUGUST.

TULIP TREE. )

Liriodendron tulipijera, >

Worthy fame floweth only from a worthy fountain. — Tupper.

FAME.

1. Rose, (China,) ... 178

2. Pink, (mountain,) . . 156

3. Lily, (scarlet,) . . : 116

4. Almond, 14

5. Grape,- 78

6. Olive, 138

7. Auricula, (scarlet,) 26

8. Carnation, 37

9. Ambrosia, 20

10. Jonquil, 100

11. Foxglove, 66

12. Peony, 147

J3. Houstonia, 91

14. Clematis, 45

15. Bay- wreath, .... 31

16. Rose, (white,). ... 185

17. Buttercup, 34

18. Queen's Rocket, . . 166

19. Nettle, 134

20. Hyacinth, (purple,). 93

21. Thyme, 211

22. Geranium, (lemon,) . 73

23. Ivy, . 97

24. Calycanthus, .... 36

25. Forget-me-not, ... 65

26. Daffodil, 53

27. Rose, (Austrian,) . . 107

28. Wall-flower, 222

29. Jasmine, (yellow,) . 99

30. Pea, (sweet,) .... 145

31. Acacia, 13

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.

A volume of detail, where all is orderly set down."

II. SANGUINE.

" Empire in the eye, and sweetness on the lip."

III. BILIOUS.
" Thy soul is athirst for sympathy."

IV. NERVOUS.
" A high heart is a sacrifice to Heaven."

FORTUNA FLORA.

265

SEPTEMBER.

I DOMESTIC HAPPINESS.

flex. )

The only bliss of Paradise that has survived the fall.— Thomson.

HOLLT.

1.

Daisy, (white,) . . .

55

16.

44

0

Pine

T>R

17

29

3

Jasmine, (yellow,) .

99

18

Box,

yj

1

Heliotrope,

a?

19

Aloe,

16

5.

Rose-bud, (red,) . .

181

910

Cedar,

49

6

Sumach, .

903

°1

Elder

59

7

Rosemary,

191

99

Lavender,

169

R

Geranium, (nutmeg,)

68

^

33

9

TTr>noy-flnwo»>|^J^

1 t

'Nettle,

134

H>

Laurel, . . /TT»r

107

Oats,

137

1 1

110

96

77

1"

Periwinkle, (white,)

11!'

97

Houstonia,

91

18

Columbine

46

98

Eglantine.

58

1 1

Ox-eye,

141

90

Amaranth, (globe,) .

18

r,

Speedwell, ....

900

30

Hellebore,

84

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.
a Rouse to some high and holy work of love."

II. SANGUINE.
1 Quickly angered, and as quick his passions overpass."

III. BILIOUS.
" Wasting his life for his country's care."

IV. NERVOUS.

" An earnest intellect, a perfect thirst of mind."
23

266

FORTUNA FLORA.

OCTOBER.

SACRED AFFECTIONS.

MARIGOLD. ? <

Calendula offidnalia. S

Faith, Hope, and Charity ; — these three. — St. Paul.

1. Dahlia, 54

2. Heart's Ease, .... 82

3. Olive, 138

4. Lichen, Ill

5. Wheat, 226

6. China Aster, .... 44

7. Locust, 119

8. Wall Flower, 222

9. Pansy, 142

10. Aloe, 16

11. Moss, 130

12. Acacia, 13

13. Saffron, 193

14. Lobelia, 118

15. Dew Plant, 57

16. Forget-me-not, ... 65

17. Rose, (daily,) 171

18. Passion Flower, . . 143

19. Lotas Flower, ... 120

20. Orchis, 140

21. Jasmine, (yellow,) . 99

22. Woodbine, 227

23. Tuberose, 212

24. Sunflower, (dwarf,) . 204

(bridal,) ... 103
122

27. Queen's Rocket, . . 106

28. Thistle 209

29. Marigold, (French,) 125

30. Orange-blossom, . 139

31. Witch Hazel,. ... 225

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.

" A little fire is quickly trodden out"

II. SANGUINE.

" Truth needs no flowers of speech."

in. BILIOUS.
" Firm of word, speaking in deeds."

IV. NERVOUS.
•* Dearest fruits of bliss are plucked on danger's precipice."

FORTTTNA FLORA.

267

NOVEMBER.

ROSEMARY. ?

Rosemarimu officinalis. >

Have we no charm when youth is flown ? — Willis.

, REMEMBRANCE.

1. Almond, 14

2. Camellia Japonica,. 38

3. Brooino, 33

4. Yarrow, 229

5. Marigold, (French,) 125

6. Rose, (Chinese,) . . 178

7. Box, 32

8. Ambrosia, 20

9. Balm, 28

10. Geranium, (oak,) . . 70

11. Flax, 61

12. Myrtle, i:N

13. Weeping Willow, . 2i>4

14. Arbor-viUe, 25

15. Yew, 230

16. Holly, 85

17. Snow-drop, 198

18. Sorrel, 199

19. Everlasting, 60

20. Zinnia, 231

21. Rose, (musk,) 180

22. King-cup 34

23. Cedar, 42

24. Flower-of-an-hour, . 63

25. Geranium, 75

26. Love-lies-bleeding, 121

27. Crown Imperial, . . 51

28. Fox-glove, 66

29. Calycanthus, .... 36

30. Dew Plant, 57

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.
u One of a cold and constant mind."

H. SANGUINE.
u You are as hopeful as the Spring."

III. BILIOUS.
Nothing becomes you ill, that you would wilL*

IV. NERVOUS.
" Through the world you break your way."

FORTU.NA FLORA.

DECEM BER.

Box.

Buxva.

CONSTANCY

Constancy lives in realms above. — Coleridge.

1. Hawthorn, 81

2. Myrtle, 131

a Rose, (bridal,) . . . 1G3

4. Olive, i:J8

5. Wheat, 226

6. Pricjdy Pear, .... 165

7. Primrose, 162

8. Rose, (Chinese,) . . 183

9. Ice Plant, 95

10. Star of Bethlehem, 201

11. Prickly Pear, .... 165

12. Rose, (withered,) . . 186

13. Lichen, Ill

14. Hyacinth, (purple,) 93

15. Everlasting, 60

16. Fir, 62

17 Holly, 85

18 Nightshade, 185

19 Oats, 137

20. Clematis, 45

21. American Starwort, 21

22. Balm, 28

23. Yew, 230

24. Broome, 38

25. Passion Flower, . . 143

26. Geranium, 69

27. Chamomile, 43

28. Saffron, (meadow,) . 126

29. Periwinkle, (blue,; . 148

30. Ivy, 97

31. Locust, 119

TEMPERAMENTS.

I. LYMPHATIC.

" What fate imposes men must needs abide."

II. SANGUINE.

" The cheapest pleasures are the best."

III. BILIOUS.

u For what I will, I will — and bear it out."
IV. NERVOUS.

" No dread of thine own energies, still active day
night"

FORTONA FLORA.

SENTIMENTS FOR THE WEEK.

LOVE.

Lore is a celestial harmony
Of likely hearts, composed of stars' consent,

Which join together in sweet sympathy,
To work each other's joy and sweet content. •

Spenter.

2. late i heralds should be thoughts

Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams,
Driving back shadows over lowering hills.

Shakspeare.

3. Lore not, love not ; the thing you love may change j

The rosy lip may cease to smile on you,
The kindly beaming eye grow cold and strange,
The heart still warmly beat, and not for you.

Mrs. Xorton.

The essence of all beauty I call love.
The attribute, the evidence, the end,
The consummation to the inward sense,
Of beauty apprehended from, without,
I still call love.

Miss Barrett.

Rich in love

And sweet humanity, you will be yourself,
To the degree that you desire, beloved.

Wardsvarth.

23 •

270 FORTUNA FLORA.

Love gives to nature's voice a tone
That true hearts understand ;

The sky, the earth, the forest lone,
Are peopled by his wand ;

Sweet fancies all our pukes thrill,
While gazing on a flower.

Mrs. Hale.

Give me the boon of love !

The path of fame is drear,
And glory's arch doth ever span

A hill-side cold and sere.
One wild flower from the path of Love,

All lowly though it lie,
la dearer than the wreath that waves

To stern Ambition's eye.

//. T. TucJxrma*.

FORTUNA FLORA. 271

FRIENDSHIP.

1. Friendship is not a plant of hasty growth,
Though planted in esteem's deep-fixed soil ;
The gradual culture of kind intercourse
Must bring it to perfection, make it flower.

Joanna Baillie.

2. O ! let my friendship, in the wreath,

Though but a bud among the flowers,

Its sweetest fragrance round thce breathe, —

'Twill serve to soothe thy weary hours.

Amelia B. Wetty.

3. The least flower, with a brimming cup, may stand,
And share its dew-drop with another near.

Miss Barrett.

4. I count myself in nothing else so happy,
As in a soul remembering my good friends.

Shakspeare.

6. That union where all that in woman is kind.

With all that in man most enaoblingly towers,
Grow wreathed into one — like the column combined
Of the strength of the shaft and the capital's flowers.

Moore.

6. The blossoms of passion,

Gay and luxuriant flowers, are brighter and fuller of

fragrance ;
But they beguile us, and lead us astray, and their odox

is deadly.

LongfeUow.

7. Dear friend, the hills rise bare and bleak

That bound thy future years ;
Clouds veil the sky j no golden streak,

No rainbow light, appears ;
But, by those hopes which, plumed with light,

The sad exulting spurn,
Love's paradise shall bloom more bright, —

The spring-time will return.

372 FORTUNA FLORA.

VICISSITUDE.

1. Roses bloom, and then they wither ;

Cheeks are bright, then fade and die ;
Shapes of light are wafted hither,
Then like visions hurry by.

J. O. PerdvaL

2. When Fortune means to men moat good,
She looks upon them with a threatening eye.

Shabpcare.

8. The pilgrim swallow cometh

To her forsaken nest ;
So must the heart that roameth

Return to find its rest,
"Where love sheds summer's lustre ;

And wheresoe'er 'tis found,
There sweetest flowers will cluster,
And dearest joys abound.

Mrs. Hale.

4. O ! life is a waste of wearisome hours,

TWiich seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns;

And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers,

Is always the first to be touched by the thorns.

Moon.

6. A blossom full of promise is life's joy,

That never comes to fruit. Hope, for a time,
Suns the young floweret in its gladsome light,
And it looks flourishing ; — a little while —
"Us passed, we know not whither, but 'tis gone I
Mitt London.

6. Deal gently with him, world, I pray ;

Ye cares, like softened shadows come ;
His spirit, well nigh worn away,
Asks with ye but a while a home.

Richard II. Dana.

7. In the long vista of the years to roll,

Let me not see our country's honor fade ;
O ! let me see our land retain its soul !
Her pride her freedom ; and not freedom's shade.

Keat*.

FORTUNA FLORA. 278

SENTIMENTS FOR THE MONTHS.

1. O ! what tender thoughts beneath

Those silent flowers are lying,
Hid within the mystic wreath,
My love hath kissed in tying !

Moore.

2. On that cheek and o'er that brow

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent ;
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent.

Byron.

8. Peace to the dust that in silence reposes

Beneath the dark shades of cypress and yew ;
Let Spring deck the spot with her earliest roses,
And heaven wash their leaves with its holiest do

Pierpont.

4. Do any thing but love ; or, if thou lovest,
And art a woman, hide thy love from him
"Whom thou dost worship. Never let him know
How dear he is ; flit like a bird before him ;
Lead him from tree to tree, from flower to flower ;
But be not won ; or thou wilt, like that bird,
When caught and caged, be left to pine neglected,
And perish in forgctfulness.

Miaa London.

6. Never forget the hour of our first meeting,

When, 'mid the sounds of revelry and song,
Only thy soul could know that mine was greeting
Its idol, wished for, waited for, so long ;
Never forget.

Mr». Embury.

274 FORTUNA FLORA.

6. They fabled not, in days of old,

That love neglected soon will perish ;
Throughout all time the truth doth hold,

That what we love we ever cherish.
For when the sun neglects the flower,

And the sweet, pearly dews forsake it,
It hangs its head, and from that hour,

Prays only unto death to take it.
So may I droop, by all above me,
If ever I forget to love thee.

Thomas Miller.

7. Your coldness I heed not, your frown I defy ;
Your affection I need not, — the time has gone by
When a blush or a smile on that cheek could beguile
My soul from its safety, with witchery's smile.

Mrs. F, S. Otgood.

8. As in the sweetest bud

The eating canker dwells, so eating love
Inhabits in the finest wits of all.

Shakspeare.

9. I have found

One true companion, one dear soul is mine,
Whose converse still doth soothe, arouse, refine.

Howitt.

10. When most the world applauds you, most beware ;
"Tis often less a blessing than a snare.

Distrust mankind, with your own heart confer,
And dread even there to find a flatterer.

Young.

11. But then her face,

So lovely, yet so arch — so full of mirth,
The overflowing of an innocent heart ; —
It haunts me still, though many a year has fled,
Like some wild melody.

Rogeri.

12. One sacred oath has tied our lores,

As thus the flowers I bind, —
And sweet as rose to lily proves,
Our sacred bond we find.

Prior, (improved.)

FORTUNA FLORA. 275

13. Let us love temperately ; things violent last not ;
And too much dotage rather argues folly

Than true affection.

Malinger.

14. Loving with all the wild devotion,
That deep and passionate emotion ;
Loving with all the snow-white truth
That is found but in early youth ;
Freshness of feeling, as of flower,

That lives not more than spring's first hour.
Miss London,

15. Be her my choice, who knows with perfect skill,
When she should move, and when she should stand

still;

Who, uninstructed, can perform her share,
And kindly half the pleasing burden bear.

Soame Jenym.

16. Ours, too, the glance none saw beside ;

The smile none else might understand ;
The whispered thought of hearts allied ;
The pressure of the thrilling hand.

Byron.

17. Friendship ! thou soft, propitious power !
Sweet regent of the social hour !
Sublime the joys, nor understood,

But by the virtuous and the good.

Cotton.

18. As love can exquisitely bless,

Love only feels the marvellous of pain ;
Opens new views of torture in the soul,
And wakes the nerve where agonies are born.

Smollett.

19. Eternal youth

O'er all her form its glowing honors breathed,
And smiles eternal from her candid eyes
Flowed like the dewy lustre of the morn,
Effusive trembling on the placid waves.

Aktntuk.

JO. Often, like the evening sun, comes the memory of
former times o'er my soul.

Ostian.

276 FORTUNA FLORA.

21. The last link is broken.

That bound me to thec ;

The words thou hast spoken

Have rendered me free.

Bayley.

22. And say, without our hopes, without our fears,
Without the home that plighted love endears,
Without the smile from partial beauty won,

0 ! what were man ? — a world without a sun.

CampbeO.

23. One who could change the worship of all climates,
And make a new religion wherever she comes,
Unite the differing faiths of all the world

To idolize her face.

Dryden.

24. Farewell ! ah, farewell ! though my spirit may droop,
That its fond dream has fled, and in bitterness stoop
To the dust for the fall of the idol it made,

My pride and its purity nought shall degrade.

1 thought thee all perfect, as pure as the sun,

And thy truth and thy brightness my wild worship won ;
But alas ! the illusion so cherished is o'er ;
My pride has been roused, and I'll meet thee no more.

Mrs, Dinniet.

26. Fly betimes, for only they

Conquer love that run away.

Carew.

26. The frigid and unfeeling thrive the best ;
And a warm heart, in this cold world, is like
A beacon light, wasting its feeble flame
Upon the wintry deep, that feels it not,
And trembling with each pitiless gust that blows,
Till its faint fire is spent.

Henry Neelt.

87. True as a needle to the pole,

Or as the dial to the sun ;
Constant as gliding waters roll,
Whose swelling tides obey the moon ;
From every other charmer free,
My life and lore shall follow thee.

BooO.

TORTONA FLORA. 277

28. Remember thee, and all thy pains,

And all thy love for me !
Yes ! while a breath, a pulse remains,
Will I remember thee !

Montgomery.

29. Tis not your part,
Out of your fond misgivings, to perplex

The fortunes of the man to whom you cleave ;
Tis yours to weave oil that you have of fair
And bright in the dark meshes of their web.

Talfourd.

80. The power you wield has its best spells in love,
And gentleness, and thought ; never in scorn,
Or any wayward impulse, or caprice.

W. Gilmore Simmt.

81. A happy lot be thine, and larger light

Await thco there ; for thou hast bound thy will
In cheerful homage to the rule of right,
And lovest all, and doest good for ill.

Wm. C. Bryant.

32. You have a natural, wiso sincerity,
A simple truthfulness ;

And, though yourself not unacquaint with care, '
Have in your heart wide room.

James R. Loicett,

33. Dear art thou to me now as in that hour

When first love's wave of feeling, spring-like, broke
Into bright utterance, and we said we loved.

Festut, by Bailey.

84. When lovers meet in adverse hour,

Tis like a sun-glimpse through a shower ;
A watery ray an instant seen,
Then darkly closing clouds between.

85. " Yes ! " I answered you last night ;

" No ! " this morning, sir, I say !
Flowers, seen by candle-light,
Will not look the same by day.

Mitt Barrett.
24

278 FOETUNA FLORA.

86. O ! as the bee upon the flower, I hung
Upon the honey of thy eloquent tongue.

Bufaar.

87. We never speak our deepest feelings ;
Our holiest hopes have no revealings
Save in the gleams that light the face,
Or fancies that the pen may trace ;

Or when we use, like Love, the flowers
To mark our thoughts, as he the hours.
Mrs. Hale.

38. The conflict is over, the struggle is past,

I have looked, I have loved, I have worshipped my last ;
Now back to the world, and let Fate do her worst
On the heart that for thee such devotion hath nursed.
Chariot F. Hoffman.

39. Whither my heart has gone, there follows my hand,

and not elsewhere.
For, when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and

illumines the pathway,
Many things are made clear, that else lie hidden in

darkness.

Longfellow.

40. Not wholly can the heart unlearn

The lesson of its better hours,
Nor yet has Time's dull footstep worn
To common dust that path of flowers.

/. G. Whittier.

41. The velvet couch and the gilded hall,

Gay visions of pomp and power,
Art, fashion, and show, I would give you all
For a seat in my own wild bower.

Miu Gould.

42. If every drooping floweret had a soul,
And heavenly inspiration breathed from it,
And on each trembling leaf that bends to earth.
Bested an angel thought, instead of dew,

This flower would then be like thee.

Niebcuka Komedyia.

INDEX OF FLOWERS

Fltnotn.

Acacia, Yellow,

Almond, Flowering, •

Althea Frutex,

Aloe,

Amaranth, <

Amaranth, Globe, .

AmaryllU,

Ambrosia,

American Starwort, •

Anemone,

Apocynum,

Arum,

Arbor-Tit*,

Auricula, Scarlet, •

Bachelor's Button, <

Balm,

BayLeat;

Bay Wreath,

Box,

Broome,

Butter-cup,

Calla, jEthloplca,

Calycamhus,

Carnation,

Camellia, Japonic*,

Canterbury Befl,

Cardinal's Flower,

Catchfly,

Cedar,

Interpretation*. /•.

Concealed Love,

11

Hope,

11

• Consumed by Love,

15

Religious Superstition,

u

• Immortality, •

17

Unchangeable,

H

Beautiful, but timid, -

i.i

Love returned,

H

Welcome to a Stranger,

11

Fading Hope,

jj

1 Uiehood,

H

Fer-vity and Deceit, - (-

M

Uucrm^lng Friendship,

H

Pride,

M

Hope in Love,

27

Social Intercourse,

•

Impatience,

M

I change but in dying, •

M

Glory,

H

Constancy,

32

Humility,

•

Riches,

34

Magnificent Beauty,

a^

Benevolence,

M

Pride and Beauty,

H

Unpretending Excellence,

•

Gratitude,

H

Distinction,

•H

Artifice,— Pretended Love,

41

Think of me,

48

Energy in Adversity, -

43

Love of Variety,

44

280

INDEX OF FLOWERS.

Flovxrt.

Interpretation*.

P***

Clematis,

Mental Beauty,

45

Columbine,

Desertion,

4«

Convolvulus,

Worth sustained by Aflectl

on, 47

Coreopsis,

Always cheerful,

. 48

Cowslip,

Winning Grace,

• 49

Crocus,

Youthful Gladness,

50

Crown Imperial, -

Pride of Birth,

51

Cypress,

Despair, >

53

Daffodil,

Uncertainty,

53

Dahlia,

Elegance and Dignity, -

54

Daisy,

Beauty and Innocence,

. 55

Dandelion,

Coquetry,

'.A

Dew Plant,

Serenade,

57

Fgl inline,

I wound to heal,

58

Elder,

Compassion, .

59

Everlasting,

Always remembered, -

60

Flax,

Domestic Industry,

fil

Fir,

Time,

62

Flower of an Hour, -

Delicate Beauty,

63

Flowering Reed,

Confidence in Heaven,

64

Forget-me-not,

True Love,

65

Fox-glove,

Insincerity,

66

Grra ium,

Gentility,

67

Gera ium, Nutmeg, -

An expected Meeting, -

68

Gera ium, Scarlet, -

Consolation,

69

Grra ium, Oak,

True Friendship,

70

Gera ium, Mourning,

Despondency,

. 71

Gera ium, Rose,

Preference,

. 78

Gera Ium, Lemon, -

Tranquillity of Mind, -

- 78

Geranium, Silver-leaved,

Recall, •

. 74

Geranium, Ivy,

Bridal Favor,

- 75

Gilly-flower,

She is (air,

- 7«

Golden Rod,

Encouragement,

• 77

Grape, Wild,

Mirth,

78

Grass,

Submission,

7»

Harebell,

Grief,

80

Hawthorn,

Hope,

81

Heart's Ease,

Love in Idleness,

83

Heliotrope,

Devotion,

83

Hellebore,

Calumny,

84

Holly,

Domestic Happiness, -

R5

Hollyhock,

Ambition,

• 86

Honesty,

Fascination,

87

Honey-flower,

Love sweet and secret,

- 88

Honeysuckle, Coral,.

Fidelity,

88

Honeysuckle, Wild, -

Inconstancy,

90

Honstonla,

Content,

• 01

Hyacinth, Bine,

Constancy •

. M

INDEX OF FLOWERS.

281

Ttumn.

Interpretation*. f

Hyacinth, Purple, -

Sorrow,

93

Hydrangea,

Heartlessness,

94

Ice Plant,

An old Beau,

95

Irta,

My Compliments,

96

Ivy,

Wedded Love,

97

Jasmine, White,

Amiability,

98

Jasmine, Yellow. .

Grace and Elrgaace, -

99

Jonquil,

I desire a return of Affection, -

100

King-cup,

I wish I was rich,

101

Laburnum,

Pensive Beauty,

103

Lady's Slipper,

Capricious Beauty,

103

Larkspur, (double-flowered,) -

Haughtiness,

104

Larkspur, (single-flowered,) -

Fickleness,

105

Laurel, American, -

Virtue is charming,

106

Laurel, Mountain, -

Ambition,

107

Laurustluus,

A Token,

108

Lavender,

Acknowledgement,

109

I.i mon-t>Inssom,

Discretion,

110

Lichen,

Solitude,

111

Lllach, Purple,

Fastidiousness,

113

Lllach, White,

YouthfUl Innocence, .

113

Lily, White,

Purity and Beauty,

114

Lily, Yellow,

Playful Gayety,

115

Lily, Scarlet,

Hlgh-souled,

116

Llly-of- the- Valley, -

Delicate Simplicity, -

117

Lobelia,

Malevolence,

118

Locust,

Affection beyond the Grave, -

119

Lotos-dower,

Estranged Love,

120

I.ove-lies-a-bleeding, -

Hopeless not heartless,

121

Lupine,

Dejection, Sorrow,

123

Magnolia,

Love of Nature,

123

Marigold, Yellow, -

Sacred Affections,

124

Marigold, French, •

Jealousy,

125

Meadow Saffron,

Growing old,

126

Mignonette,

Worth and Loveliness,

127

Meiereon,

Timidity,

128

Monk's-hood,

Deceit,

129

MM*

Ennui,

130

Myrtle,

Love In Absence, - -

131

Narcissus Poetlcn* -

Egotism and Self-love,

133

Nasturtlon,

Patriotism,

133

Nettle,

Blander,

134

Nightshade,

Dark Thoughts,

135

Oak-leaf,

Bravery and Humanity,

136

Oata,

Music,

137

Olive,

Peace,

138

Orange-blossom,

Woman's Worth,

139

24»

INDEX OF FLOWERS.

Floiotrt. Interpretation*. Putt

Orchis,

A Belle,

MO

Ox-eye,

Patience,

HI

Pansy,

Tender and pleasant Thoughts,

143

Pauion Flower,

Religious Ferrer,

143

Pea, Everlasting, -

Wilt thon go with me,

144

Pea, Sweet,

Departure,

145

Peach-blOMom,

I am your Captive, -

146

Peony,

Anger,

147

Periwinkle, Blue, -

Early Friendship, -

148

Periwinkle, White or Red, -

Pleasures of Memory,

149

Phlox,

Unanimity,

150

Pine,

Pity,

151

Pine, Pitch,

Time and Philosophy,

159

Pine, Spruce,

Hope In Adversity,

153

Pink, Red, (double,) -

Woman's Love,

154

Pink, Indian,

Always lovely,

155

Pink, Mountain,

Aspiring,

156

Pink, While,

Fair and fascinating,

157

Polyanthus,

Pride of newly acquired Riches,

lid

Poppy, Red,

Evanescent Pleasure,

159

Poppy, Scarlet,

Fantastic Extravagance,

160

Poppy, White,

Forgetfulness, or Consolation,

161

Primrose, Evening, -

Inconstancy,

162

Primrose,

Have Confidence In me,

163

Primrose, (rose-colored,)

Unpatronlsed Merit, -

164

Prickly-Pear,

Satire,

165

Queen's Rocket,

She will be fashionable,

166

Rose, Austrian,

Very lovely,

167

Rose, Bridal,

Happy Love,

168

Rose, Burgundy,

Simplicity and Beauty,

169

Rose, Carolina,

Love Is dangerous,

170

Rose, Dally,

Lightness,

171

ROM, Damask, (white and red,)

Youth,

179

ROM, Deep Red, -

Bashful Shame,

173

Rose, Hundred-leaved,

Dignity of Mind,

174

Rose, Damask, (red,)

Bashful Love,

175

Rose, Moss,

Superior Merit,

176

Rose-bud, Moss, -

Confession,

177

Rose, China,

Grace,

178

ROM, Mundl,

Tou are merry,

179

Rose, Mask,

Charming,

180

Rose-bud, Red,

Pure and lovely,

181

ROM, Red-lesYed, -

Beauty and Prosperity,

189

ROM, Chinese, Dark,

Forsaken,

183

Rose-bud, White, -

Too young to love,

184

ROM, White,

Sadnes^

185

ROM, White, (withered,)

I am in Despair,

186

INDEX OF FLOWERS.

283

Vlowtn.

Rose, Thornier,

Rose, Yellow,

ROM, York and

ROM, Campion,

Rosemary,

Rue,

Bam-on,

•

Scabious,

H.-iiMtive Plant,

Snow Ball,

Bnuw Drop, •

Sorrel, Wild,

Speedwell,

Star of Bethlehem, .

Si. John'. Wort,

Sumach, Venice,

Bun-Mower, Dwarf, -

Sun-Mower, Tall, -

Sweet-brier,

Sweet William,

Byringa Carolina,

Thlitle, Common, -

Thorn-apple,

Thyme,

Tuberose,

Tulip, Red,

Tulip, Variegated, -

Tulip-tree, •

Verbena,

Vernal Gnus,

Violet, Blue,

Violet, White,

Violet, Yellow,

Virgin*! Bower,

Wall Flower,

Water Lily, White, -

Willow, Weeping, -

Witch Haiel,

Wheat,

Woodbine,

Wood Sorrel,

Yarrow,

Yew,

Zinnia,

Interpretation*.

Ingratitude,

Let in forget,

War,

Lore'i Messengers,

Remembrance,

Disdain,

Marriage,

Domeatlc Virtue*,

Unfortunate Attachment,

Sensitiveness,

Thoughts of Heaven,

Friendship In Adversity,

Parental Affection,

Female Fidelity,

Reconciliation,

Animosity,

Intellectual Excellence,

Your devout Adorer,

Lofty and pore Thoughts,

Simplicity,

A Smile,

Disappointment,

Misanthropy,

I dreamed of Thee,

Thriftiness,

I have seen a lovely Girl,

A Declaration of Love,

Beautiful Eyes,

Fame,

Sensibility,

Poor but happy,

Faithfulness,

Modesty,

Rural Happiness,

Filial Lore,

Fidelity in Misfortune, •

Purity of Heart,

Forsaken Lover,

A Spell,

Prosperity,

Fraternal Lore,

Maternal Tenderness, -

Cure for the Heart-ache,

Penitence,

Absence,

Page

- 187

- 188

- 189
. 190

- 191
. 192

- 193

- 194

- 195

- 196

- 197
. 198

- 199

- 200
. 201

- 203

206
207

210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224

227
228

INDEX OF INTERPRETATIONS.

Interpretation.

A Belle,

Absence,

Acknowledgement, -

A Declaration of Love,

Affection beyond the Grave,

Always cheerful,

Always lovely,

Always remembered,

Ambition of a Scholar,

Ambition of a Hero, -

Amiability,

An expected Meeting,

Anger,

Animosity,

An old Beau,

Fading Hope,

Artifice,

A Token,

Aspiring,

A Smile,

A Spell,

Bashful Love,

Bashful Shame,

Beauty and Innocence,

Beautiful but timid, -

BeautiAil Eyes,

Beauty and Prosperity,

Benevolence,

Bravery and Humanity,

Bridal Favor,

Calumny,

Capricious Beauty, •

Charming,

FlOUltTt.

Orchis,

Zinnia,

Lavender,

Tulip, Red,

Locust,

Coreopsis,

Indian Pink,

Everlasting,

Hollyhock,

Mountain Laurel, •

Jasmine, White, -

Geranium, Nutmeg,

Peony,

St. John's Wort, -

Ice Plant,

Anemone,

Catchfly,

Laurustlnns,

Mountain Pink, -

Sweet William, •

Witch Hazel,

Rose, Damask Red,

Rose, Deep Red, -

Daisy,

Amaryllis,

Tulip, Variegated,

Rose, Red-leaved,-

Calycanthus,

Oak-leaf,

Geranium, Ivy,

Hellebore,

Lady's Slipper,

Rose, Musk,

14*
831
109
813
119
48
155
60
86
107
98
68
147

41

107
156
807
825
175
173
65
19
214
188
M
136
75
84
103

INDEX OF INTERPRETATIONS.

285

Interpretation*.

Flowcri.

Page.

Consolation,

Geranium, Scarlet,

6*

Compassion,

Elder,

69

Concealed Love,

Acacia,

18

Coufewlon,

Rose-bud, MOM, -

177

Confidence In Heaven,

Flowering Reed, •

64

Constancy in Friendship,

Box,

83

Coiiriiuncy in Love, -

Blue Hyacinth .

9*

('unsumed by Love, •

Althea Frutex, •

15

Conn-lit,

Houstonta,

91

Coquetry,

Dandelion,

56

Cure for the Hi-art-ache,

Yarrow,

229

Durk Thoughts,

Nightshade,

135

Deceit,

Monk's Hood,

129

Dejection and Borrow,

Lupine,

122

Delicate Beauty,

Flower of an Hour,

68

Delicate Simplicity, •

Lily-of-the-Valley,

117

Departure,

Sweet Pea,

145

Despair,

Cypress,

59

Despondency,

Geranium, Mourning,

71

Dr-i rlinii,

Columbine,

46

Devotion,

Heliotrope,

88

Dignity of Mind,

Rose, Hundred-leaved,

174

Disappointment,

Byringa, Carolina,

208

DiM-ri-tiim,

Lemon-blossom, •

110

Disdain,

Rue,

193

Distinction,

Cardinal's Flower,

40

Domestic Happiness,

Holly,

85

Domestic Industry, -

Flax,

61

Domestic Virtues,

Sage,

194

Early Friendship, -

Periwinkle, Bine, -

148

Egotism, Self-love, •

Narcissus Poeticus,

133

Elegance and Dignity,

Dahlia,

54

Encouragement,

Golden Rod,

77

Energy in Adversity,

Chnmomile,

48

Ennui,

Moss,

130

Estranged Love, -

Lotos-flower,

120

Evanescent Pleasure,

Red Poppy,

159

Fair and fascinating,

White Pink,

157

Faithfulness,

Violet, Blue,

218

Falsehood,

Apocynum,

23

Fame,

Tulip-tree,

215

Fantastic Extravagance,

Poppy, Scarlet, -

160

Fascination,

Honesty,

87

Fastidiousness,

Lilach, Purple, -

119

Female Fidelity,

Speedwell,

200

Ferocity and Deceit,

Arum,

M

Fidelity,

Honeysuckle, Coral,

89

INDEX OF INTERPRETATION!.

Interpntatioiu.

Flower*.

Fidelity In Misfortune,

Wall-flower,

Fickleness,

Larkspur,

Filial Love,

Virgin's Bower, -

Fraternal Love,

Woodbine,

Friendship to Adversity,

Snow Drop,

Forgetfulness,

Poppy, White, -

Forsaken Lover,

Weeping Willow,

Forsaken,

Rose, China, Dark,

Gentility,

Geranium,

Grace,

Rose, China, Red,

Grace and Elegance, •

Jasmine, Yellow, -

Gratitude,

Canterbury Bell, -

Glory,

Bay Wreath,

Growing old,

Meadow Saffron, -

Grief,

Harebell,

Happy Love,

Rose, Bridal,

Haughtiness,

Larkspur,

Have Confidence in Me,

Primrose,

lieartlessness, - ' -

Hydrangea,

High-souled,

Uly, Scarlet,

Hope,

Almond,

Hopeless not heartless,

Love-lies-bleeding,

Hope In Adversity, -

Pine, Spruce,

Hope,

Hawthorn,

Hope In Love,

Bachelor's Button,

Humility,

Broom e,

I am In Despair,

Rose, White,

I .-nil your Captive, -

Peach-blossom, -

I change but In dying,

Bay-lea^

I desire a Return of Affection, -

Jonquil,

I dreamed of Thee, -

Thorn Apple,

1 have seen a lovely Girl,

Tuberose,

I wish I was rich, -

King-cup,

I wound to heal,

Eglantine, |

Immortality,

Amaranth,

Impatience,
Inconstancy in Love, -

Balsamlne,
Honeysuckle, Wild,

Inconstancy In Friendship,

Evening Primrose,

Ingratitude,

Rose, Thorniest, -

Intellectual Excellence,

Sumach, Venice, -

Insincerity,

Fox-glove,

Jealousy,

Marigold, French,

Let us forget,

Rose, Yellow, -

Lightness,

Rose, Daily,

Lofty and pure Thoughts,

Sun Flower, Tall,

Love in Absence,

Myrtle,

Lrve In Idleness,

Heart's Ease,

221

105
221
227
198
161

67
178
99

89
81
126
80
168
104
163
94
116
14
121
153
81
27
S3
189
146
80
100
210
212
101
68
17
29
90
162
187
203
rc
125

131

•

INDEX OF INTERPRETATIONS.

287

Interpretation*.
Lore U dangerou., .
Love's Messengers, -
Lore of Nature,
Lore returned,
LOT* sweet and secret,
Love of Variety,
Magnificent Beauty, -
Malevolence,
Marriage,

Mental Beauty,

Mirth,

Misanthropy,

Modesty,

Music,

My Compliment., -

Parental Lore,

Patience,

Patrtotlam,

Peace,

Penitence,

Fenfire Beauty,

Pity,

Poor, but happy,

Preference,

Pride,

Pride and Beauty, -

Pride of Birth,

Pride of Riches,

Prosperity,

Purity and Beauty,

Pure and lovely,

Purity of Heart,

Playful Gayety,

Recall,

Reconciliation, -*

Religious Fervor,

Religious Superstition,

Remembrance,

Riches,

Rural Happiness, -

Sacred Affections, •

Sadness,

Satire,

Sensibility,

Sensitiveness,

Flower*.

Rose, Carolina, -

Rose, Campion, -

Magnolia,

Ambrosia,

Honey-flower, -

China Aster,

Calla,

Lobelia,

Saffron,

Wood Sorrel,

Clematis,

Grape, Wild,

Thistle,

White Violet,

Oat,

Iris,

Wild Sorrel,

Ox-eye,

Nastunlon,

Olive,

Yew,

Laburnum,

Pine,

White Periwinkle,

Vernal Gnus,

Geranium, Rose, -

Auricula, Scarlet, -

Carnation,

Crown Imperial, -

Polyanthus,

Wheat,

White Lily, (garden,)

Rose-bud, Red, -

Water Lily, White,

Lily, Yellow,

Geranium, Silver- leave I,

Star of Bethlehem,

Passion Flower, -

Aloe,

Rosemary,

Butter-cup,

Yellow Violet,

Yellow Marigold,

White Rose,

Prickly Pear,

Seiuitive Plant,

Pa**.
170
190
123
20
88
44
85
118
193
888
45
78
809
219
137
96
190
141
139
138
230
102
151
149
217
72
26
37
51
158
226
114
181
223
115
74
201
143
16
191
34

165
21C

196

INDEX OF INTERPRETATIONS.

Inttrfrttatioiu.

Fltnoert. I

'Of*.

Serenade,

Dew Plant,

67

She Is fair,

GUly-flower,

76

She will be fashionable,

Queen's Rocket, -

166

Simplicity,

Sweet Brier, - •

806

Blander,

Nettle,

134

Social Intercourse, -

Balm,

88

Bolitude,

Lichen,

111

Borrow,

Purple Hyacinth,.

93

Submission,

Grass,

79

Superior Merit,

Mos. Roae,

176

Tender Thoughts,

Pansy,

148

Think of Me,

Cedar,

48

Thoughts of Heaven, -

Snow Ball,

197

ThrifUnesa,

Thyme,

811

Timidity,

Mezereon,

188

Time,

Fir,

68

Time and Philosophy,

Pitch Pine,

158

Too young to love, -

While Rose-bud, -

184

Tranquillity,

Geranium, Lemon,

73

True Love,

Geranium, Oak, -

70

True Friendship,

Forget-me-not,

65

Unanimity,

Phlox,

150

Uncertainty,

Daffodil,

63

Unchangeable,

Amaranth, Globe,

18

Unchanging Friendship,

Arbor-vit»,

85

Unfortunate Attachment,

Scabious,

Hi

Unpatronlsed Merit, -

Primrose, Red,

164

Unpretending Excellence,

Camellia,

38

Virtue is charming, -

American Laurel,

106

Very lovely,

Austrian Rose,

167

War,

Rose, York and Lancaster,

189

Wedded Love,

Ivy,

97

Winning Grace,

Cowslip,

49

Woman's Love,

Pink, Red, (double,)

154

Woman's Worth, -

Orange-blossom, -

139

Worth and Loveliness,

Mignonette, » -

127

Worth sustained by Affection,

Convolvulus,

47

Wilt thon go with Me,

Pea, Everlasting, -

144

Welcome to a Stranger,

American Starwort, t -

81

179

Your devout Adorer - ,,, •

Dwarf Sun-flower,

204

Youth,

Damask Rose, (white and red,)

178

YouthfUl Gladness, - \.

Crocus,

60

Youthful Innocence. -

White Lilac,

113

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