And give us fair examples to despise
The servile fawnings and idolatries
Wherewith we court these earthly things below
Which merit not the service we bestow':
But oh, my God! though groveling I appear
Upon the ground, and have a rooting here
Which hales4 me downward, yet in my desire
To that which is above me I aspire,

And all my best affections I profess

To Him that is the Sun of Righteousness."

6. The daisy, too, whose English name is de rived from a Saxon word meaning day's eye, closes its petals at night and in rainy weather.

When, smitten by the morning ray,

I see thee rise, alert and gay,

Then, cheerful flower'! my spirits play
With kindred gladness':

And when, at dark, by dews oppress'd,
Thou sink'st', the image of thy rest
Hath often eased my pensive breast

Of careful sadness'.-WORDSWORTH.

7. The daisy has been universally admired as an emblem of modest innocence; but, lowly and modest though it be, it has enough of mystery in its wonderful structure "to confound the atheist's sophistries," and prove the being of a God.

Not worlds on worlds in phalanx deep,
Need we to prove that God is here;
The daisy, fresh from winter's sleep,
Tells of his hand in lines as clear.

For who but he who arched the skies,
And pours the day-spring's living flood,
Wondrous alike in all he tries,
Could rear the daisy's purple bud;
Mould its green cup, its wiry stem,
Its fringed border nicely spin,
And cut the gold-embossed gem
That, set in silver, gleams within;

O'er hill, and dale, and desert sod,

That man, where'er he walks, may see

At every step the stamp of God.-JOHN MASON GOOD.

12. The thistle, another of the sunflower tribe, though a prickly and not very graceful weed, has given its name to a Scotch order of knighthood. It might be said the Scotch order, as it also bears the name of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. The golden collar of the order, interlaced with flowers of the thistle, and bearing the motto, in Latin, "None shall annoy me with impunity," has also been adopted as the national badge. Tradition gives the following account of its origin:

13. "At the time of the invasion of Scotland by the Danes,

it was deemed unwarlike to attack an enemy in the night; but on one occasion the invaders resolved to avail themselves of this stratagem; and, in order to prevent their tramp from being heard, they marched barefooted. They had thus neared the Scottish force unobserved, when a Dane unfortunately stepped with his naked foot upon a superb thistle, and instinctively uttering a cry of pain, discovered the assault to the Scots, who ran to their arms, and defeated the foe with a terrible slaughter. The thistle was immediately adopted as the insignia of Scotland."

14.

Triumphant be the thistle still unfurled,

Dear symbol wild'! on freedom's hills it grows,
Where Fingal stemmed the tyrants of the world,

And Roman eagles found unconquer'd foes.-CAMPBELL.

15. But the downy seed of the thistle flower, so light as to be borne about on the wings of every wanton zephyr, may also, it seems, be connected with less lofty associations, for it has been made the emblem of fickleness itself, as the following fable will show:

From beauty to those who have none, I trow;
Reckless as thistle-down, on I go."

So the sly little god still flits away

'Mid earth's loveliest flow'rets, day by day;

And oh! maidens fair,

Never weep, nor care

When his light wings waft him beyond your power,

Think-'tis only the down of the thistle flower.-TwAMLEY.

20. In all ages of the world history and fable have attached to flowers particular associations, and made them emblematical of the affections of the heart and qualities of the intellect. In the symbolical language of flowers, the thistle, regarded as a misanthrope, bears the very appropriate motto, "Oh that the desert were my dwelling-place!"

MON-O-PET-AL-OUS plants are those whose 3 PHŒE-BUS (fè'-bus), the sun. flowers have but one petal or flower leaf. 4 HALES, drags.

2 HES'-PER, Venus, or the evening star. 5 MIS'-AN-THRŌPE, a hater of mankind.

1

LES. XI. JESSAMINE, HONEYSUCKLE, AND HEATH FAMILIES.

[EXOGENOUS or DICOTYLEDONOUS; Angiosperms; Monopetalous.]

1. Jasminum sambac, Single Arabian jasmine, ii. 1, w., 6 f., J.-D., E. Indies. 2. J. trifolia'tum, Double Tuscan jasmine, ii. 1, w., 6 f., J.-D., E. Indies. 3. J. fru'ticans, Common yellow jasmine, ii. 1, y., 3 f., A.-O., S. Europe. 4. J. revolu'tum, Curl-flowered jasmine, ii. 1, y., 12 f., M.-O., E. Indies. 5. Lonice'ra sempervirens, Trumpet honeysuckle, v. 1, r. and y., 15 f., My.-Au., N. Am. 6. L. pericly menum, Woodbine, v. 1, 20 f., My.-J., Britain. 7. L. fla'va, Yellow honeysuckle, v. 1, y., 10 f., My.-Jn., Carolina. 8. L. ru'bra, Italian honeysuckle, v. 1, r., 10 f., My.-J., Italy.

1.

AND luxuriant above all,

The jasmine, throwing wide her elegant sweets,
The deep dark green of whose unvarnish'd leaf
Makes more conspicuous, and illumines more

The bright profusion of her scatter'd stars.-COW PER.

2. About one hundred species of ornamental shrubs, with exquisitely fragrant flowers, belong to the jessamine family. Originally tropical plants, they are now extensively cultivated in our gardens and green-houses. Fragrance, their predominant property, has made them for ages the favorites of poets and of the people. The very name comes from a Greek word which means perfume. The white jessamine especially, from which a costly oil is extracted, is very fragrant at night. Some of the species open only during the night, and fade at sunrise; and it is to these that Moore alludes in the following lines:

3.

"'Twas midnight; through the lattice, wreathed
With woodbine, many a perfume breathed
From plants that wake when others sleep;
From timid jasmine buds that keep
Their odor to themselves all day;
But, when the sunlight dies away,

Let the delicious secret out

To every breeze that roams about."

4. A twining evergreen plant, improperly called jessamine, grows abundantly in the Southern States south of Richmond, Virginia, spreading over the hedges, and, in still more southern latitudes, hanging in graceful festoons from the tallest trees. It is said that children are frequently poisoned by chewing its pretty yellow flowers. This is the gelsémium, and has five stamens, by which it may be known from the true jessamine, which has only two.

5. The honeysuckle or woodbine family embraces over two hundred species of mostly twining plants, valuable in the flower garden, shrubbery, and against walls and over arbors. The honeysuckle," which is fair as fragrant," is so much cultivated that it has almost become a domestic in every household.

6.

"See the honeysuckle twine

Round the casement: 'tis a shrine
Where the heart doth incense give,
And the pure affections live.
Blessed shrine! dear, blissful home!
Source whence happiness doth come!
Round the cheerful hearth we meet

All things beauteous-all things sweet."

7. It was said, in an ancient fable, that this feeble plant, rapidly shooting into the air, aimed to overtop the oak, the king of the forest; but, as if its efforts were unavailing, it soon recoiled, and with graceful negligence adorned its friendly supporter with elegant festoons and perfumed garlands. In this same family are included the elder, snowberry, and snowball-the latter being known by some as the Guelder-rose. Thus that popular writer, Miss Landon, alludes to its blos

soms as

"The balls that hang like drifted snow
Upon the Guelder-rose."

8. What is known as the swamp honeysuckle in the United States is a species of azalea, which belongs to the numerous and eminently beautiful family of the HEATHS. The low shrubby heaths, which form one division of this family, are alike the glory of Southern Africa, and of Scottish plains and hill-sides; and their culture and propagation are now considered, in England, one of the most delicate and delightful branches of the art of gardening. In a second division of the heath

[HEATH FAMILY.-EXOGENOUS or DIOCOTYLEDONOUS; Angiosperms; Monopetalous.]

1. Eri'ca tet'ralix, Cross-leaved heath, viii. 1, pk., 1 f., Jn.-Au., Scotland. 2. Eri'ca cilia'ris, Ciliated heath, viii. 1, pu., 1 f., Jl.-S., Portugal. 3. Eri'ca cruen'ta, Bloodyflowered heath, viii. 1, dark red, 2 f., My.-S., S. Africa. 4. Eri'ca fascicula'ris, Clusterflowered heath, viii. 1, pu., 18 in., F.-Jn., S. Africa. 5. Eri'ca ar'dens, Glowing heath, viii. 1, sc., 2 f., A.-Jn., S. Africa. 6. Vaccin'ium resino'sum, Black whortleberry, x. 1, gr., r., and y., 4 f., My.-Jn., N. Am. 7. Gaulthe'ria procum'bens, Spicy wintergreen, x. 1, w., 6 in., Jl.-S., N. Am. 8. Aza'lea nudiflo'ra, Swamp honeysuckle, v. 1, pk., 4 f., My.-Jn., N. Am. 9. Kal'mia latifo'lia, Broad-leaved laurel, x. 1, w. and r., 8 f., My.-Jl., N. Am. 10. Kal'mia angustifolia, Sheep laurel, x. 1, r., 5 f., My.-J., N. Am.

family we find the lowly trailing arbutus and wintergreen; a third division is famous for the plants which produce our cranberries and whortleberries;2 while a fourth embraces those native kalmias and rhododendrons* of American forests, which have latterly become the pride of European gardens. It is a species of the rhododendron which Emerson describes in the following lines under the name of rhodōra:

*The Rhododendron maximum, or American Rose Bay-tree (x. 1, 20 f., rose-colored flowers), is an evergreen tree, although it renews its leaves once in two or three years. It flowers from May to August, and is found from Long Island to Florida, generally on the borders of rivers or creeks; and on the sides of mountain torrents in Virginia it is so abundant as to form impenetrable thickets.

The Kalmias, sometimes called Laurels in America, are not the true Laurels. The Kal'mia latifolia, or Calico bush, which is found on barren hills from the Carolinas to New York, is an elegant shrub, but of noxious qualities-poisonous to cattle and sheep.