rchis, the only
orchis blossoming early, of most delicate white and purple tints,
flourishes in damp, rich woods, and the Cornus, or dogwood, lights up
the shady nooks with level sheets of bloom.

_Violets_, more than twenty varieties, come on in April, May, and June;
but I can specify but one--a charming species of pansy-like beauty,
found at Farmington, Connecticut, with the two upper petals of the
finest violet tint, and of velvet softness. In moist woodlands in
Western Connecticut the staphylea, or bladder-nut, attracts attention by
its drooping racemes of white flowers, and later in the season the rich
brown seed-vessels are as handsome as the flowers in the spring. All
around on the rocky road-side banks and in dry fields the airy wild
columbine and pretty corydalis blossoms nod in every breeze, and the
ravines on the hills are fringed with the softest frills of exquisite
leaves and odd flowers of the Dutchman's-breeches and squirrel-corn,
whitish and pinkish, and with the scent of hyacinths.

One other must not be forgotten, though so well known as hardly needing
to be named. Who has not searched in dim New England woods, under solemn
pines, for the sweet, shy, waxen clusters of this dearest of all the
flowery train, hiding under old rusty leaves, but betraying itself by
that indescribably delicious fragrance which perfumes the wood paths?
Surely all the young hands have been filled with the pilgrim's-flower,
the epigaea, the trailing arbutus, the beloved May-flower of olden and of
modern time.

In the Middle States many plants are found which New England does not
furnish. New Jersey is famed for woodland treasures; not only Orange
Mountains, but the pine-barrens, show many a charming blossom, and the
dweller at the West finds on the flower-tinted prairies a profusion
which the Eastern fields can not approach. On the hills of Pennsylvania
may be seen the brilliant flame-colored azalea and the North American
papaw--a relative of the tropical custard-apple--and the pink blossoms
of the Judas-tree, and several varieties of larkspur, and in low
thickets are found the white adder's-tongue and the dwarf white
trillium. At the West, the interesting anemone called Easter or Pasque
flower, from its blossoming near Easter; and another beautiful Western
flower is the American cowslip, called also the shooting-star, which is
found in Pennsylvania as well as on Western prairies. The following is a
list of _some_ of the flo