henna. This reminds us of that perfume which, poured upon Aaron's beard, was, in its sweetness, compared by the Psalmist to the delights of fraternal affection. In Egypt the henna flowers are carried about the streets for sale, and the seller, as he proceeds, calls aloud, "O, odours of Paradise; O, flowers of the henna!"

This plant receives its botanical name from Dr. Isaac Lawson. It is similar in its nature to our common loosestrife (Lythrum salicária), and placed by botanists in the same order, Salicariæ. The flowers of this order are, like the henna, almost all of a purplish or red colour. Our purple loosestrife is very common by streams, and is a conspicuous and handsome flower, yet few country people know its name. Villagers have almost always familiar names for common plants, and these are often different in different counties. Sometimes names of the old poets, names almost forgotten, are still retained in the country, and may be learned by conversing with some of those old village dames who go about collecting "simples," as they call

herbs which they use for remedies. The flower called loosestrife is two or three feet high, and at the top of the stem bears a number of flowers placed round it; the leaves are long, but shaped at the base like a heart. If the reader find a flower answering this description by the stream side, and take the trouble to count the chives or threads which are within the purple blossom, he cannot mistake it. It has six long and six short stamens.

VERSES.

It was at evening's silent hour,
A gentle maid reclined

In a lone spot, where tree and flower
Bent to the summer wind;

A volume lay within her hand,

O'er which she fondly bent,
And on a scene of distant land

Her thought was all intent;

And now and then the maiden smiled,

As that sweet scene her thoughts beguiled.

She read of isles renowned in song,

Of skies of cloudless blue,

And flowery plains, which all year long
Wore tints of brightest hue;

Of vine-clad groves, and myrtle shade,

And hills with verdure clad,

Where rose and henna ever made

The fragrant earth seem glad ;
And as she read, the dreamer fair
Sate wishing that her home was there.

But what has bid the colour rise

Unto that maiden's brow?

And what has dimmed those gentle eyes
That were so laughing now?

Alas! the pleasant tale has changed;
She reads of woe and pain,
Of exile from his land estranged,

Of youth and maiden slain,

And dying children on the strand,

Oh, where is home in that bright land?

Thine may not be a land of flowers,
Thou simple English maid;

Its azure skies, its sunny hours,

Soon change to clouds and shade : But fearlessly, o'er mead or hill,

Thy footsteps lone may tread,

And thou may'st seek the wood-flower still, Upon its native bed,—

No warrior's arm, no despot's breath,

Dooms thee to wretchedness or death.

Thy winter fire burns bright and high

Upon the cheerful hearth;

The laugh is echoed merrily,
The song of household mirth:
Thy mother clasps her infant there,
And smiles his mirth to see;

Thy father's heart knows not a care
Lest war should check thy glee;
But calmly eyes his happy band,
And triumphs in his native land.

O Nature, fitted as thou art

To solace and to bliss,

Not e'en thy charms can win the heart

Like social happiness!

And happier far our native isle,

With all its change and gloom,

Than lands, where 'mid thy brightest smile,

There dwells no sacred home;

And better still our social ties,

Than flowery plains and cloudless skies!

A. P.

CHAPTER XX.

ORCHIS BEE-OPHRYS FLY-OPHRYS MAN ORCHIS

PURPLE

ORCHIS-SALEP-CLIMBING ORCHISES--BUT

TERFLY ORCHIS-EPIDENDRUM-AIR ORCHIS-ORCHI

DEOUS PLANTS.

"Where Java's isle, horizon'd with the floods,
Lifts to the skies her canopy of woods,
Pleased Epidendra climbs the waving pines,
And high in heaven the intrepid beauty shines,
Gives to the Tropic breeze her radiant hair,
Drinks the bright shower, and feeds upon the air;
Her brood delighted stretch their callow wings,
As poised aloft their pendant cradle swings,
Eye the warm sun, the spicy zephyr breathe,
And gaze unenvious on the world beneath."

Darwin.

THE adherence of plants to their own particular circumstances of soil and situation, is rather remarkably seen in those singularly formed flowers the bee and fly orchis. Neither of these plants grows in Scotland, although on calcareous hills and plains of England, they

S