Rambles in Search of Wild Flowers And How to Distinguish Them

to sorrow we give smiles, and unto graces graces." Leigh Hunt. The second order of Thalamiflorals has but few British representatives ; but among these is the most attractive of all our wild flowers, the white Water Lily. Distinguished from the Ranunculacese by its long-enduring calyx and carpels with solid partition, the members of this order are like their predecessors in their numerous stamens and pistils. The first white Water Lilies I ever saw were in a pond near Copgrove, in Yorkshire. I was but a little child, but I stood rapt in amazement. Had I read Walter Scott's poems, I might have described the flower in his words:? "The Water Lily to the light Her chalice reared of silver bright." As it was, I only conceived an absorbing desire to possess one. They were quite beyond reach, and I could not realise my desire; and I remember that for years the possession of Water Lilies mingled in every airy castle that I built. Five years ago I was with a pic-nic party at a pretty lake in Cheshire. We were all near relations?brothers and sisters, and cousins scarcely differing from brothers and sisters. Again I beheldSlfTitie.Popjyy WATEB LILIES?POPPIES. 23 the beautiful white Water Lily, and by its side the somewhat less attractive yellow one. I exclaimed at the sight of them, and said how long I had wished for them; then I began to aid in spreading the cloth for our entertainment. Turning to the lake again I was terrified to ...