Part 11

Rootstock.—Thick, charged with a crimson juice. Scape.—Naked, one-flowered. Leaves.—Rounded, deeply lobed. Flower.—White, terminal. Calyx.—Of two sepals falling early. Corolla.—Of eight to twelve snow-white petals. Stamens.—About twenty-four. Pistil.—One, short.

In early April the firm tip of the curled-up leaf of the blood-root pushes through the earth and brown leaves, bearing within its carefully shielded burden—the young erect flower-bud. When the perils of the way are passed and a safe height is reached this pale, deeply lobed leaf resigns its precious charge and gradually unfolds itself; meanwhile the bud slowly swells into a blossom.

Surely no flower of all the year can vie with this in spotless beauty. Its very transitoriness enhances its charm. The snowy petals fall from about their golden centre before one has had time to grow satiated with their perfection. Unless the rocky hill-sides and wood-borders are jealously watched it may escape us altogether. One or two warm sunny days will hasten it to maturity, and a few more hours of wind and storm shatter its loveliness.

Care should be taken in picking the flower—if it must be picked—as the red liquid which oozes blood-like from the wounded stem makes a lasting stain. This crimson juice was prized by the Indians for decorating their faces and tomahawks.

SHAD-BUSH. JUNE-BERRY. SERVICE-BERRY. Amelanchier oblongifolia. Rose Family.

A tall shrub or small tree found in low ground. Leaves.—Oblong, acutely pointed, finely toothed, mostly rounded at base. Flowers.—White, growing in racemes. Calyx.—Five-cleft. Corolla.—Of five rather long petals. Stamens.—Numerous, short. Pistils.—With five styles. Fruit.—Round, red, berry-like, sweet and edible, ripening in June.

PLATE I

BLOOD-ROOT.—S. Canadensis. ]

Down in the boggy meadow in early March we can almost fancy that from beneath the solemn purple cowls of the skunk-cabbage brotherhood comes the joyful chorus—

For lo, the winter is past!—

but we chilly mortals still find the wind so frosty and the woods so unpromising that we return shivering to the fireside and refuse to take up the glad strain till the feathery clusters of the shad-bush droop from the pasture thicket. Then only are we ready to admit that

The flowers appear upon the earth, The time of the singing of birds is come.

Even then, search the woods as we may, we shall hardly find thus early in April another shrub in blossom, unless it be the spice-bush, whose tiny honey-yellow flowers escape all but the careful observer. The shad-bush has been thus named because of its flowering at the season when shad “run;” June-berry, because the shrub’s crimson fruit surprises us by gleaming from the copses at the very beginning of summer; service-berry, because of the use made by the Indians of this fruit, which they gathered in great quantities, and, after much crushing and pounding, utilized in a sort of cake.

WOOD ANEMONE. WIND-FLOWER. Anemone nemorosa. Crowfoot Family.

Stem.—Slender. Leaves.—Divided into delicate leaflets. Flower.—Solitary, white, pink, or purplish. Calyx.—Of from four to seven petal-like sepals. Corolla.—None. Stamens and Pistils.—Numerous.

—Within the woods, Whose young and half transparent leaves scarce cast A shade, gay circles of anemones Danced on their stalks;

writes Bryant, bringing vividly before us the feathery foliage of the spring woods, and the tremulous beauty of the slender-stemmed anemones. Whittier, too, tells how these

—wind flowers sway Against the throbbing heart of May.

PLATE II

RUE ANEMONE.—A. thalictroides.

WOOD ANEMONE.—A. nemorosa. ]

And in the writings of the ancients as well we could find many allusions to the same flower were we justified in believing that the blossom christened the “wind-shaken,” by some poet flower-lover of early Greece, was identical with our modern anemone.

Pliny tells us that the anemone of the classics was so entitled because it opened at the wind’s bidding. The Greek tradition claims that it sprang from the passionate tears shed by Venus over the body of the slain Adonis. At one time it was believed that the wind which had passed over a field of anemones was poisoned and that disease followed in its wake. Perhaps because of this superstition the flower was adopted as the emblem of sickness by the Persians. Surely our delicate blossom is far removed from any suggestion of disease or unwholesomeness, seeming instead to hold the very essence of spring and purity in its quivering cup.

RUE ANEMONE. Anemonella thalictroides. Crowfoot Family.

Stem.—Six to twelve inches high. Leaves.—Divided into rounded leaflets. Flowers.—White or pinkish, clustered. Calyx.—Of five to ten petal-like sepals. Corolla.—None. Stamens.—Numerous. Pistils.—Four to fifteen.

The rue anemone seems to linger especially about the spreading roots of old trees. It blossoms with the wood anemone, from which it differs in bearing its flowers in clusters.

STAR-FLOWER. Trientalis Americana. Primrose Family.

STEM.—Smooth, erect. LEAVES.—Thin, pointed, whorled at the summit of the stem. FLOWERS.—White, delicate, star-shaped. CALYX.—Generally seven-parted. COROLLA.—Generally seven-parted, flat, spreading. Stamens.—Four or five. PISTIL.—One.