Part 5

SUB ORD. TRILLIACEÆ.—(TRILLIUM FAMILY.)

WHITE TRILLIUM. (DEATH FLOWER.) Trillium Grandiflorum.

“And spotless lilies bend the head Low to the passing gale.”

NATURE has scattered with no niggardly hand these remarkable flowers over hill and dale, wide shrubby plain and shady forest glen. In deep ravines, or rocky islets, the bright snow-white blossoms of the Trilliums greet the eye and court the hand to pluck them. The old people in this part of the Province call them by the familiar name of Lily. Thus we have Asphodel Lilies, Douro Lilies, &c. In Nova Scotia they are called Moose-flowers, probably from being abundant in the haunts of Moose-deer. In some of the New England States the Trilliums, white and red, are known as the Death-flower, but of the origin of so ominous a name we have no record. We might imagine it to have originated in the use of the flower to deck the coffin or graves of the dead in the olden times. The pure white blossoms of T. nivale, T. cernum (nodding Trillium) and T. grandiflorum, might serve not inappropriately for emblems of innocence and purity, when laid upon the breast of the early dead. The darker and more sanguine hue of the red species, T. sessile, and T. recurvatum, might have been selected for such as fell by violence, but these are but conjecture. A prettier name has been given to the Nodding Trillium: that of “Smiling Wake-robin,” which seems to be associated with the coming of the cheerful chorister of early spring, “The household bird with the red stomacher,” as Bishop Carey calls the robin red-breast. The botanical name of the Trillium is derived from trilex, triple, all the parts of the plant being in threes. Thus we see the round fleshy scape furnished with three large sad green leaves, closely set round the stem, two or three inches below the flower; which is composed of a calyx of three sepals, a corolla of three large snow-white, or, else, chocolate red petals: the styles or stigmas three; ovary three celled; stamens six, which is a duplicate of three. The white fleshy tuberous root is much used by the American School of Medicine in various diseases, also by the Indian herb doctors.

Trillium grandiflorum is the largest and most showy of the white species. Trillium nivale or “lesser snowy Trillium,” is the smallest; the last blooms early in May. May and June are the months in which these flowers appear. The white flowered Trilliums are subject to many varieties and accidental alterations. The green of the sepals is often transferred to the white petals in T. nivale; some are found handsomely striped with red and green, and in others the very short foot-stalk of the almost sessile leaves are lengthened into long petioles. The large White Trillium is changed previous to its fading to a dull reddish lilac.

The Red Trilliums are rich but sombre in colour, the petals are longish-ovate, regular, not waved, and the pollen is of a greyish dusty hue while that of the White species is bright orange-yellow. The leaves are of a dark lurid green, the colouring matter of the petals seems to pervade the leaves; and here, let me observe, that the same remark may be made of many other plants. In purple flowers we often perceive the violet hue to be perceptible in the stalk and under part of the leaves, and sometimes in the veins and roots. Red flowers again show the same tendency in stalk and veins.

The Blood-root in its early stage of growth shews the Orange juice in the stem and leaves, so does the Canadian Balsam and many others; that, a little observation will point out. The colouring matter of flowers has always been, more or less, a mystery to us: that light is one of the great agents can hardly for a moment be doubted, but something also may depend upon the peculiar quality of the juices that fill the tissues of the flower, and on the cellular tissue itself. Flowers deprived of light, we know, are pallid and often colourless, but how do we account for the deep crimson of the beet-root, the rose-red of the radish, the orange of the rhubarb, carrot, and turnip, which roots, being buried in the earth, are not subject to the solar rays? The natural supposition would be that all roots hidden from the light would be white, but this is by no means the case. The question is one of much interest, and deserves the attention of all naturalists, and especially of the botanical student.

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NAT. ORD. RANUNCULEÆ.

ROCK COLUMBINE. Aquilegia Canadensis.

“The graceful Columbine all blushing red, Bends to the earth her crown Of honey-laden bells.”

THIS graceful flower enlivens us all through the months of May and June by its brilliant blossoms of deep red and golden yellow.

In general outline the Wild Columbine resembles its cultivated sisters of the garden, but is more light and airy from its nodding habit. The plant throws up many tall slender stalks from its centre, furnished with leafy bracts, from which spring other light stems terminated by little pedicels, each bearing a large drooping flower and bud which open in succession.

The flower consists of five red sepals and five red petals; the latter are hollowed trumpet-like at the mouth, ascending; they form narrow tubes, which are terminated by little round knobs filled with honey. The delicate thready pedicels on which the blossom hangs cause it to droop down and thus throw up the honey bearing tubes of the petals; the little balls forming a pretty sort of floral coronet at the junction with the stalk.

The unequal and clustered stamens, and five thready styles of the pistil project beyond the hollow mouths of the petals, like an elegant golden-fringed tassel; the edges and interior of the petals are also of a bright golden yellow. These gay colours are well contrasted with the deep green of the root leaves and bracts of the flower stalks. The bracts are lobed in two or three divisions. The larger leaves are placed on long foot stalks; each leaf is divided into three, which are again twice or thrice lobed, and unequally notched; the upper surface is smooth and of a dark rich green, the under pale and whitish.

As the flowers fade the husky hollow seed pods become erect—a wise provision in this and many other plants of drooping habits, giving the ripening seed better access to the sun and wind, and preventing them from being prematurely scattered abroad upon the earth.

The wild Columbine is perennial and very easily cultivated. Its blossoms are eagerly sought out by the bees and humming birds. On sunny days you may be sure to see the latter hovering over the bright drooping bells, extracting the rich nectar with which they are so bountifully supplied. Those who care for bees, and love humming birds, should plant the graceful red-flowered Columbine in their garden borders.

In its wild state it is often found growing among rocks and surface stones, where it insinuates its roots into the clefts and hollows that are filled with rich vegetable mould; and thus, being often seen adorning the sterile rocks with its bright crown of waving blossoms, it has obtained the name, in some places, of ROCK COLUMBINE.

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If two sepals with a petal be separated from the rest of the flower, they will be found to resemble a dove flying, hence the name Columbine, from the Latin columba, a dove.—DR. BELL.

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4 TRIENTALIS AMERICANA (Star flower Chickweed)

2 TRILLIUM ERECTUM (Purple trillium)

3 GERANIUM MACULATUM (Wild Cranes-bill)

1 DICENTRA CANADENSIS (Squirrel Corn)

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NAT. ORD. FUMARIACEÆ.—(FUMITORY FAMILY.)

SQUIRREL CORN. Dicentra Canadensis.