Page:Summer - from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau.djvu/153

Rh What a careful gardener Nature is! She does not let the sun come out suddenly with all his intensity after rain and cloudy weather, but graduates the change to suit the tenderness of plants.

I see the tall crowfoot now in the meadows, Ranunculus acris; with a smooth stem. I do not notice the bulbosus which was so common a fortnight ago. The rose-colored flowers of the Kalmia angustifolia, lambkill, just opened and opening. The Convallaria bifolia growing stale in the woods. The Hieracium venosum, veiny-leaved hawk-weed, with its yellow blossoms, in the woodland path. The Hypoxis erecta, yellow Bethlehem star, where there is a thick wiry grass in open paths, might well be called yellow-eyed grass. The Pyrola asarifolia, with its pagoda-like stem of flowers, i. e., broad-leaved wintergreen. The Trientalis Americana, like last, in the woods, with its star-like white flower and pointed, whorled leaves. The prunella, too, is in blossom, and the rather delicate Thesium umbellatum, a white flower. The Solomon's-seal, with a greenish, drooping raceme of flowers at the top, I do not identify.

I find I postpone all actual intercourse with my friends to a certain real intercourse which takes place commonly when we are actually at a distance from one another.