Though often low, and bearing but one flower, it is not uncommon to find a single tall stalk adorned with a dozen or two of blossoms, and a reliable observer reports having found plants 5 feet in stature, and bearing upwards of a hundred flowers and buds apiece! This remarkable luxuriance could only have occurred in some solitary mountain glen unknown to the gentian-hunter, who, between greedy admiration of its beauty and ignorance of its habits, is doing his best to exterminate the plant. The seeds are exceedingly capricious in their choice of a home, and refuse to germinate when garden-sown. For the æsthetic pleasure also it is best not to pluck them; their charm loses its subtlety when carried into civilized environments--the spirit of their loveliness escapes imprisonment. [Illustration: FRINGED GENTIAN: Gentiana crinita.] *Blind Gentian.* _Gentiana Andrewsii._ *Closed Gentian.* Found in rich woodlands and pastures, blossoming in September and October. The single leafy stalk, from 1 foot to 18 inches in height, is round, stout, smooth, and green. The leaf is large (from 2 to 4 inches long), usually bread oval in shape, tapering to the tip, with an entire margin, and a thick texture; the surface is smooth, and the color a rich green that is frequently weather-worn and rusty. The leaves are set in pairs upon the stalk. The flower is like a closed bud which never opens, an inflated club-shape from 1 to 1 and ½ inches in length; the corolla is a dark purple-blue color, growing lighter near the base, and in its folds; the 5-parted calyx is more or less green. The flowers are gathered together in a close cluster of four or five, upon the summit of the stalk, amidst the numerous green leaves. The color of the closed gentian, being low and rich in tone rather than brilliant, loses greatly in value when gathered and fetched into the subdued light of the house. [Illustration: BLIND GENTIAN: G. Andrewsii.] BORAGE FAMILY. BORRAGINACEÆ. *Forget-me-not.* _Myosotis palustris._ *Mouse-ear.* Found in moist meadows, and by brooks and runnels, flowering in June and July. The large, somewhat square stalk, from 9 to 20 inches in height, is branching and leafy, rather roughish of surface, with short rootlets starting out on its sides, and light green. It supports itself upon surrounding vegetation. The leaf, 2 or 3 inches long, is oval with a blunt tip, and partly clasping the stalk; its surface roughened with fine hairs, and it is light green in color. The small 5-lobed flower is about a quarter of an inch across; its corolla is very fine and even in texture, in color light blue (occasionally pink) with a center of harmonious yellow; the calyx is small, 5-parted, and green. The buds are pinkish. The flowers grow in curving, one-sided, terminal clusters,--sometimes from the angles of the upper leaves.