In this instance, too, the power had come
from the north.
The prettiest botanical specimen my trip yielded was a little plant
that bears the ugly name of horned bladderwort (Utricularia cornuta),
and which I found growing in marshy places along the shores of Moxie
Lake. It has a slender, naked stem nearly a foot high, crowned by two
or more large deep yellow flowers,--flowers the shape of little bonnets
or hoods. One almost expected to see tiny faces looking out of them.
This illusion is heightened by the horn or spur of the flower, which
projects from the hood like a long tapering chin,--some masker's
device. Then the cape behind,--what a smart upward curve it has, as if
spurned by the fairy shoulders it was meant to cover! But perhaps the
most notable thing about the flower was its fragrance,--the richest and
strongest perfume I have ever found in a wild flower. This our
botanist, Gray, does not mention; as if one should describe the lark
and forget its song. The fragrance suggested that of white clover, but
was more rank and spicy.
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