The morning times., 1895-08-11
Wild Flowers and Their Haunts
Around the Capital.
A RICH AND VARIs F LORA
Rare Plants That Are Native to the
Nearby Dells and Glades-Midsum-
ing Sway in Field and Forest-I 400
Varieties Found in the District.

the most beautiful and attractive city
on the continent It's political and social
life are loadstoUes for the ambitious and the
pleasure-seeking. The wide, shady streets,
the numerous parks, the adjacent river and
magnificent woodlands, make IL the city,
par excellence for a home. One great at
traction which Washington possesses in a
more marked degree than is commonly
seen ia p0pulous and prosperous sections,
are our numerous forests primeval." With
in few miles of the boundaries, there are
large stretches OF wooded country, where
as yet, that modern icoDoclast OF nature,
''the subdivision for suburban homes"
has not iDtruded. Here in the deep, dark
woods, where the marriage of the plants
is sweetly solemniZed," we meet many
old friends of the wild flower genus.
Flora Columbjaua," as the native flora
OF the District of Columbia is called, is
unusually large and luxuriant Prof. Lester
f. Ward, of the National Museum, in his
Guide TO the Flora of Washington and
Vicinity, ," enumeTates nearly / 400 flowers,
shrubs and trees that are indenous TO
this section. Many OF these plants are
rare, and are familiar only to the scientist,
but goOdly percentage are old acquaint-
ances-perhaps known and loved from our
earliest childhood.
Richard Jefferis says that sweetest
OF all sweet things is wild flower air."
Our District has no flower more beautiful
or more fagrant than the trailing arbutus,
and We can almost believe that Jeffries
had been nroamiug through our spring woods
when he made that now famous observa
tion. The trailing arbHtus belongs TO
the heath family, ana is not even a remote
heequallyfragra Mt virburnum
ThoneysuCkle family, for which tits sooften
mistaken.
The clustered pink flower, the rounded,
heart shaped leaves, aud the graceful fes-
tooning of the vine make the arbutus very
easy TO identify.
BEAUTIFUL SNOWY AZALEA.
The heath family give us another wild
flower, the aZalea, whose beautiful, showy
blossoms are conspicuous among the finest
Of floral displays; also the great laurel,
a fragrant flowing shrub, which seems TO
thrive best in the neiGhborhood Of Chain
Bri dge. The great laurel is q purely
American plant, and when in the fun per
fectiou OF its blooming, IL is one of which
we can be Justly proud.
We boast of fourteen varieties of the
violet family around Washington, but
not all OF these are wild flowers. We have
a three -colored violet called the wild
pausy, which is very pretty, but not abun
dant enough to be well known. The
lance lea we'd violet is frequently found
in the meadows along the Baltimore and
Potomac Railroad, about the end OF April
1t is a dainty white blossom, with smooth,
lance shaped leaves aud utterly unlike
the common blue violet We have also a
yellow violet, an arrow -leafed violet, and
a species known as the pale violet, which
is found growing luxuriantly around Little
Falls and the islands OF the Potomac. and is
chiefly noted for bearing larger autumnal
crop OF flowers than # does in the spring.
The common blue violet is our best-known
and best-beloved spring flower In the
contest for naming national flower for
the United States, the friends Of the violet
made a most respectable showing In all
clinles and all ages the violet has been a
favOrite
No flower has been more laUded in poetry
and song In the primitive days when
nature was so closely interviewer in the
thoughts and words of men, the violet was
chosen as an emblem OF constancy. who
giveth her lover a violet, hath given part
OF her soul, lis an old Saxon saying Shake
speare was a great admirer of this modest
little flower THE violet is for faith
fulness," and again, Duke Arsino, in
Twelfth Night" compares a strain OF
music to the breath of a bank of violets.
This species OF wild violet is not fragrant,
but will become so by transplanting into
rich damp earth, and by little care. The
deep blue wild violet grows profusely in
the shady woodlands where the soil is
slightly moist and sandy It's dainty
familiar blossom is one OF the first to greet
US after the winter is past, and frequently
1t has second blooming in the fall, if the
weather remains mild.
IN SOLITARY STATE.
The wood anemone is well known in many
of our forests. II is a dainty waXy looking
flower, growing in solitary state on a
slender stem, and presenting a particu.
larly graceful and fragile appearance.
The anemone comes with the young and
tender foliage of the early spring, and it's
tremulous. delicate beauty has given IL q
prominent place among our wild flowers
This gentle child of the forest has q
most aristocratic lineage. In fact, so an
cient is the history of the first anemone that
it is almost lost in the twilight OF ages
One tradition says that the anemone
| sprang from the spot where Venus was
weeping passionate, useless Tears over
the body of her slain lover, Adonis. An
other Greek fable is that a wood nympf
was so much admired by that tickle and
adroit flattercr, Zephyr, that she excited
the jealousy of the goddess Flora. Thi:
young woman promptly changed her riva
into the cold, delicate anemone, and sent
her. The aRcients called the anemone
the wind shaken" possibly from this
fable. and they had a superstition that
the wind which passed over the anemons
brought disease and disaster In its wake
The rue anemone monopolizes the roots
OF old trees. and is q very pretty species
with clusters Of pinkish white flowers
and graceful foliage. 1t is found most
abundantly in what the botanists formerly
called the terra Gotta region, but which
| can be better identified now as the sub
| urb of Brookland and the Catholic Uni
versity grounds. We find In the same
neighborhood the sweet bay or laurel mag
nolia, a shrub which grows TO the height
OF twenty feet, and bears dark shining
leaves from four to six inches in length
and beautiful white flowers, almost un
pleasantly fragrant.
During these sultry July days the COO
secluded marshes OF the Upper Potomac
and the Eastern Branch, and the many
low damp places around Washington, are
covered with the starry white clusters
OF the Virginia clematis, or, as it is popu
larly known, virgins bower" Per
haps we have no wild flower that is more
familiarly known than the clematis. 1t
is one OF our best climbers, very hardy, and
OF rapid growth, and its beautiful clusters
OF flowers, white and sometimes purple
make IL highly ornamental. Later in the
season the blossoms give place to silvery
featheriike plumes that are unspeakahlJ
lovely.
sKILLFUL PORCH CLIMBERS.
The clematis is easily cultivated, and all
lovers of these woodland children are glad
to notice that they are rapidly being trans.
planted TO city homes, where they make
graceful and Skillful porch climbers. They
accomplish this purpose by means of the
bending or clasping OF the tender leaf
stalks, and, according to DR.. Darwin, the
ascent each day can be accurately predicted