Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-26
Flowers Of Season.

CWWCAS u OcdSOus
I ONG ago the frost cut down the
- last Of the garden flowers, were It
ever so hardy. Even the aSters are
gone from the hill, the last little late
forget-me- not from the wet grass, the
But now the first Of the Winter flow
ers arrive, and they bring an especial
cheer, like the lighting Of fires in q
house
True, they are dollhouse plants and
hence artificial" but so Is q warm
house artificial" so are NUTS and
various other jolly commodities. In
the florists windows now appear poin-
settias, and while few people, fancy.
would choose the poinsettia for q
favorite flower, even among dollhouse
cially brave and gay about this plant,
30 completely q tropic creature, so
unabashedly the gorgeous thing 1t Is.
One cannot help using the word exotic
IN connection with poinSettias, though
It Is word particularly dislike In its
misused and overworked sense.
It is odd to think that there is q
place where poinSettias are to be seen
growing wild as daisies and unaccom-
panied by brick pots wrapped in green
tissue paper and accompanied by q bill
mon, along with o relative called scar
let plume, and still another known as
Mexican IRE plant, which reaches as
far north as Southern Illinois.
There are two remarkable things
about potnSettiaS which ought to strike
every che and yet are frequently uIt-
noticed. First, what we call the
petals" are not petals at all, but
leaves, as you win see by examining
them. There Is nothing petal-like
about them. II they were petals they
would be out Of all proportion in
length, breadth and thickness to the
center Of the flower, and nature i
usually mathematically exact about it,
proportions, both on the eSthetic and
the practical score.
Second, you win notice. II you break
the plant anywhere, that abundant
milky juice flows out, Just as It does
from the rubber trees Of Brazil, foE
indeed these two plants belong to the
same family, while our rubber plant
Of the boarding house bay window Il
really species Of 1ag and yields no
commercially valuable rubber.
Chrysanthemum In First.
OF all the Winter flowers the first
prize goes without question to the chrys-
word for golden flower, and affords q
clear proof that anybody can learn "a
use the scientific names Of dowers
since we make no difficulty over Jaw.
breakers like rhododendron and chrys-
anthemum, while aster - on every
body's tongue. although It h . Latin
name Of recent connection, the popular
English name being MichaelmaS daisy
But, by any name, the chrysanthemum
would smell as sweet. To me one Of
the most lovable Of tn charms Is Ii
indeed smell only Of pollen, ike most
flowers of the composite family, but
particularly in the leaves. Their de-
lcious aroma has an indescribable ele'
gance and tang Of bitterness that, Is q
pleasure, lasts longer than the too
honeyed perfume of such a flower as
let us say, honeysuckle, which at first
'tsniff" smells better.
The French generally do not likt
chrySanthemums. since they are con-
nected In their minds with Decoration
day, which In France comes on AL
Saints day, November /. Hence TO q
Frenchman chrysanthemums NEAR
funerals, death, tears, mourning ant
general gloom. But with us, thanks u
our Decoration day, chrySanthemumi
come in the first tingling, invigoratini
part Of Winter, when that season
still novel and amusing; they bea,
about them the remembrance Of man!
Thanksgiving days, Of hard-fough
gridiron battles and the pretty girl
-. that wore chrysanthemums.
Chrysanthemums, like everything
else, are subject TO fashions. There 4
nobody who sets up to dictate the mod
In ctrysanthemumS as Paris coutou
Tieres dictate styles Of dress, though