The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1878-04-03
THE FLORA OF SOUTHWESTERN
LOUISIANA.
Editor Democrat -


nature. Here you are immured with
in the walls of your office, week after
week, working and thinking for us
hard headed democrats, at this splen.
did season of the year. The forest
is now a perfect panorama of beauty,
and by the way, if you should ever
meet man who does not like flowers
or children, he will do to watch, and
his heart is fit abode for treason,
strategem and spoil" Flowers are
the ornaments of vegetable existence.
and have in all ages, been cultivated
by persons of leisure and taste, for
the pleasure they yield to the eye
and the fancy. While generally
heaIthful and ezhiIarating from being
pursued in the open air, flower cul-
ture is generally reckoned to he
pure and harmless recreation. which,
by leading to the tranquil contemp}a
ton of natural beauty, and diverting
the mind from gross worldly occupa-
tions, has positively moral, and
therefore highly beneficial tendency.
II has also the advantage of being
alike open to the pursuit of high and
low, the rich and the poor, the over
toiled man of business, and the in
dustrious artisan 1t may be fol.
lowed with equal enjoy ment by inhi-
viduals of both sexes, and, as is well
known, on every imaginable scale,
from that of single flower pot or
ornamental border, to the princel,
green house and exquisltely varied
parterre.
The natural grace, simplicity and
attractive coloring of flowers, have
Afforded endless themes to moralists
and poets, and volumes have been
written to show how many associa-
tions of feeling, simple and sublime.
these beautiful objects are calculated
to excite. I have been in Florida.
"the land of flowers" and this sec
ton of Louisiana presents as great a
variety of beauty and color, as YOU
will find in Florida. For fear of ap-
pearing pedantic, / will dismiss the
botanical names, and use the com.
mon. First on the list, we have the
magnolia, which grows here in great
profusion and perfection; | am wri-
ting near the Calcasieu river, aud in
sight of magnolia tree sixty feet in
height. If the rose is the queen,
this is certainly the king of flowers.
They are now commencing to bud.
Then comes the Bay of the same
species, celebrated in poetry and
song. The time honored honey.
suckle thrives here, and is now in
iull bloom, and every breeze is laden
with its odor. There are two kinds
Of this, the vine and the shrub. We
have the dog wood in great ahun-
dance, and its pure willie blooms are
now seen all over the forest. The
chickasaw or wild plum is now in
bloom, and is very fragrant, and it's
fruit is highly priced by the farmers
for their hogs. The catalha and
china trees grow here, also the black.
white and honey locust. The mimo
sa which has delicate and heauti
ful flower grows here to large size
l have seen here several species OF
the rose, that l never saw anywhere
else. That magnificent flower, the
cape jasmine is very common here,
and is justly general favorite. The
beautiful and fragrant little yellow
jasmine is now blooming everywhere.
Oh! it is so beautiful, climbing ~,
and covering the tops of trees with a
moss of gold. The white jasmine is
also found here, and is an exquisite
flower. The Towering pomegraniIe
rather rare shrub, is seen here, also
the towering almond. Grape myrtle
and althea are found in almost ever,
yard. The wood hine grows wild
lere, an old and favorite flower
Here are lilies in abundance, red,
white and blue. 1t is impossible to
expend moments thought upon e
lily, without recurring to that mem
CRADLE passage in the Bible, "con.
slider the lilies of the field how they
grow. They toll not, neither do they
spin; and yet | say unto you, that
Solomon in all his glory, was not ar,
rayed like one of these." That
sweet little flower, hearts ease. greets
us here on every hand. and recalls To
mind the well-known passage of
Shakespeare, where the fairy king so
beautifully describes the ''little ives