INTRODUCTION 



spring greatly influences the opening of the flowers; 

 but really this influence is much less than one might 

 think it would be; the spring flowers are very much 

 like the spring birds, they appear when they are due 

 with very little regard to the immediate weather; they 

 obey the summons of the sun. They may not come so 

 abundantly, but they come on time. By April 20, in 

 the Middle West, the earUest flowers are past and the 

 full flora well under way. In New England the season 

 is later. 



In round numbers, our early spring flowers number 

 about one hundred and thirty plants. Most of them 

 are native, not to exceed twenty have come to us from 

 Europe. More than half are purely forest plants, 

 nurslings of the woodlands and found nowhere else. 

 They developed in the unbroken forests of this coun- 

 try, and although a few can adapt themselves to the 

 conditions of open, sunny fields, many cannot and 

 when brought into contact with civilization they dis- 

 appear. Because of their natural environment they 

 possess certain marked characteristics. Most of them 

 are either bulbous, tuberous, or possess fleshy root- 

 stocks; that is, they have stored in their roots or un- 

 derground stems sufficient food to enable the plant to 

 bloom before the leaves are in working order; in short, 

 the chief duty of the leaves is to prepare food for the 

 next year. Moreover, they bloom in the forest before 

 the trees are in full leaf; it is their only chance to get 

 direct sunlight and they make the most of it. It is a 

 case of then or never. As a matter of fact, they do 

 not like, and few can endure, direct summer sunshine; 

 they are plants of the shade. Lastly, they lie down to 

 their winter sleep, wrapped in the blanket of leaves 



