Part 49

WAKE ROBIN. BIRTHROOT. Trillium erectum. Lily Family.

Stem.—Stout, from a tuber-like rootstock. Leaves.—Broadly ovate, three in a whorl a short distance below the flower. Flower.—Single, terminal, usually purplish-red, occasionally whitish, pinkish, or greenish, on an erect or somewhat inclined flower-stalk. Calyx.—Of three green spreading sepals. Corolla.—Of three large lance-shaped petals. Stamens.—Six. Pistil.—One, with three large spreading stigmas. Fruit.—A large, ovate, six-angled reddish berry.

PLATE LXXIX

WAKE ROBIN.—T. erectum. ]

This wake robin is one of the few self-assertive flowers of the early year. Its contemporaries act as if somewhat uncertain as to whether the spring had really come to stay, but no such lack of confidence possesses our brilliant young friend, who almost flaunts her lurid petals in your face, as if to force upon you the welcome news that the time of birds and flowers is at hand. Pretty and suggestive as is the common name, it is hardly appropriate, as the robins have been on the alert for many days before our flower unfurls its crimson signal. Its odor is most unpleasant. Its reddish fruit is noticeable in the woods of late summer.

The sessile trillium, T. sessile, has no separate flower-stalk, its red or greenish blossom being set close to the stem-leaves. Its petals are narrower, and its leaves are often blotched or spotted. Its berry is globular, six-angled, and red or purplish.

The wake robins are native to North America, only one species being found just beyond the boundaries in the Russian territory.

WOOD BETONY. LOUSEWORT. Pedicularis Canadensis. Figwort Family.

Stems.—Clustered, five to twelve inches high. Leaves.—The lower ones deeply incised, the upper less so. Flowers.—Yellow and red, growing in a short dense spike. Calyx.—Of one piece split in front. Corolla.—Two-lipped, the narrow upper lip arched, the lower three-lobed. Stamens.—Four. Pistil.—One.

The bright flowers of the wood betony are found in our May woods, often in the company of the columbine and yellow violet. Near Philadelphia they are said to be among the very earliest of the flowers, coming soon after the trailing arbutus. In the later year the plant attracts attention by its uncouth spikes of brown seed-pods.

Few wayside weeds have been accredited with greater virtue than the ancient betony, which a celebrated Roman physician claimed could cure forty-seven different disorders. The Roman proverb, “Sell your coat and buy betony,” seems to imply that the plant did not flourish so abundantly along the Appian Way as it does by our American roadsides. Unfortunately we are reluctantly forced to believe once more that our native flower is not identical with the classic one, but that it has received its common name through some superficial resemblance to the original betony or Betonica.

PAINTED CUP. Castilleia coccinea. Figwort Family.

Stem.—Hairy, six inches to a foot high. Root-leaves.—Clustered, oblong. Stem-leaves.—Incised, those among the flowers three to five-cleft, bright scarlet toward the summit, showy. Flowers.—Pale yellow, spiked. Calyx.—Tubular, flattened. Corolla.—Two-lipped, its upper lip long and narrow, its lower short and three-lobed. Stamens.—Four, unequal. Pistil.—One.

——Scarlet tufts Are glowing in the green like flakes of fire; The wanderers of the prairie know them well, And call that brilliant flower the painted cup.

But we need not go to the prairie in order to see this plant, for it is equally abundant in certain low sandy New England meadows as well as in the near vicinity of New York City. Under date of June 3d, Thoreau graphically describes its appearance near Concord, Mass.: “The painted cup is in its prime. It reddens the meadow, painted-cup meadow. It is a splendid show of brilliant scarlet, the color of the cardinal-flower, and surpassing it in mass and profusion.... I do not like the name. It does not remind me of a cup, rather of a flame when it first appears. It might be called flame flower, or scarlet tip. Here is a large meadow full of it, and yet very few in the town have ever seen it. It is startling to see a leaf thus brilliantly painted, as if its tip were dipped into some scarlet tincture, surpassing most flowers in intensity of color.”

WOOD LILY. WILD RED LILY. Lilium Philadelphicum. Lily Family.

Stem.—Two to three feet high. Leaves.—Whorled or scattered, narrowly lance-shaped. Flower.—Erect, orange-red or scarlet, spotted with purple. Perianth.—Of six erect narrowly clawed sepals, with nectar-bearing furrows at their base. Stamens.—Six. Pistil.—One, with three-lobed stigma.

Here and there in the shadowy woods is a vivid dash of color made by some wild red lily which has caught a stray sunbeam in its glowing cup. The purple spots on its sepals guide the greedy bee to the nectar at their base; we too can take the hint and reap a sweet reward if we will, after which we are more in sympathy with those eager, humming bees.

This erect, deep-hued flower is so different from its nodding sister of the meadows, that we wonder that the two should be so often confused. When seen away from its surroundings it has less charm perhaps than either the yellow or the Turk’s cap lily; but when it rears itself in the cool depths of its woodland home we feel the uniqueness of its beauty.

TURK’S CAP LILY. Lilium superbum. Lily Family.

Stem.—Three to seven feet high. Leaves.—Lance-shaped, the lower whorled. Flowers.—Orange or scarlet, with purple spots within, three inches long, from three to forty growing in pyramidal clusters. Perianth.—Of six strongly recurved sepals. Stamens.—Six, with long anthers. Pistil.—One, with a three-lobed stigma.

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; They toil not, neither do they spin; And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory Was not arrayed like one of these.

How they come back to us, the beautiful hackneyed lines, and flash into our memories with new significance of meaning when we chance suddenly upon a meadow bordered with these the most gorgeous of our wild flowers.

We might doubt whether our native lilies at all resembled those alluded to in the scriptural passage, if we did not know that a nearly allied species grew abundantly in Palestine; for we have reason to believe that lily was a title freely applied by many Oriental poets to any beautiful flower.

Perhaps this plant never attains far inland the same luxuriance of growth which is common to it in some of the New England lowlands near the coast. Its radiant, nodding blossoms are seen in great profusion as we travel by rail from New York to Boston.

PLATE LXXX

WOOD LILY.—L. Philadelphicum. ]

HOUND’S TONGUE. Cynoglossum officinale. Borage Family.