“CUBBY.”
Just a little fluffy ball of fur,
Fawn and brown, and smooth and soft as silk;
Just two cunning little paws of tan,
Velvet-gloved, to dabble in the milk.
Little paws to pat my tired face,
Spring and play, and help me to forget.
Little, merry, restless, tireless feet—
Just a little playful, happy pet.
Just a little yielding, graceful form,
Cuddled softly down beside my cheek;
Just two little tender, fawn-like eyes,
Looking all the love they cannot speak;
Just a little song of sweet content,
Murmured soft and low beside my ear;
Just a little kitten I have loved—
Not forgotten, and to memory dear.
—Mary Morrison.
SOAPWORT OR BOUNCING BET.
(Saponaria officinalis.)
The plant commonly called Soapwort or Bouncing Bet also bears other popular names, many of which are purely local. Some of these are Hedge Pink, Bruisewort, Sheepweed, Old Maid’s Pink and Fuller’s Herb. It bears the name Soapwort because of a substance called saponin which is a constituent of its roots and causes a foaming that appears like soap suds when the powdered root is shaken with water.
Soapwort belongs to a large group of plants called the Caryophyllaceæ, or pink family. In this family there are about fifteen hundred species. These are widely distributed, but are most abundant in the Northern Hemisphere, extending to the Arctic regions and to the tops of very high mountains. The popular and beautiful carnations and some of the most common plants that grow abundantly in waste places also belong to the pink family. The Soapwort comes to us from Europe, where in some localities it is a common wild flower. In this country when it was first introduced it was simply a pretty cultivated garden plant. However, it lives from year to year and spreads by means of underground stems. It was not very long before it had escaped from yards to roadsides, where frequently large patches may be seen. The flowers are large and quite showy. The color of the petals is usually pinkish white. Blossoming in July, August and September, the Soapwort often beautifies waste places which other plants seem to shun. It is perhaps more generally loved than any other of our old-fashioned garden flowers. It grows luxuriantly without cultivation and seems to quite hold its own even among rank growths of weeds and grass. It is hard to tell what is the significance of the name Bouncing Bet, perhaps the most popular of all the names by which this plant is known.
Alice Lounsberry says: “It was always a mystery to Dickens that a doornail should have been considered so much more dead than any other inanimate object, and it seems also strange that this plant should have suggested the idea of bouncing more than other plants. Dear Bettie does not bounce, nor could she if she would. She sits most firmly on her stem, and her characteristics seem to be home-loving and simple. We are sure to find her peeping through the garden fence.”
TURTLE-HEAD OR SNAKE-HEAD.
(Chelone glabra.)
The Turtle-head or Snake-head is one of three species that are natives of eastern North America. This plant is well supplied with common names, as it is also called Shell-flower, Cod-head, Bitter-herb and Balmony. The generic name of this flower of the swamps and moist banks of streams is from the Greek word which means tortoise, the name having been given to the plant because of the fancied resemblance between the flowers and the head of a turtle or snake. One may be able, by stretching his imagination, to see this resemblance in the flowers of our illustration.
SOAPWORT OR BOUNCING BET.
(Saponaria officinalis.)
SNAKE-HEAD OR TURTLE-HEAD
(Chelone glabra.)
FROM “NATURE’S GARDEN”
COPYRIGHT 1900, BY
DOUBLEDAY PAGE & COMPANY
The custom of giving names to plants that are suggestive of their real or fancied resemblance to various objects of nature, or are indicative of their beneficial or injurious qualities, is as old as history itself. In this way a large number of plants have become associated with good or evil spirits, Christian or pagan saints or martyrs, animate nature or some of the phenomena of nature. To the Indian the likeness of the flower of the Turtle-head to the head of a reptile not only gave it its name, but at the same time invested the plant with certain sacred associations by reason of the fact that not only among the Indians of North America, but among the uncivilized peoples in all parts of the world the tortoise has been considered sacred and highly symbolical.
Though commonly found in low altitudes, it is found in moist places in the Adirondacks, even at a height of three thousand feet.
This plant is not rare, and with its upright stem and its rather large and clustered white or slightly rose-colored flowers it is a dignified and beautiful feature of any floral community.