LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY FAMILY 



Solomon's-Seal is an extremely pretty and graceful 

 plant, growing in company with Smilicina in woods 

 and thickets. From a many-jointed, thick rootstock 

 a single, graceful, curved stem arises each spring and 

 bears a row of green flower-bells, nodding in pairs at 



Solomon's-Seal. Polygonatum hijldrum 



the axil of the leaves, looking like a row of tassels. 

 After fruiting this stem withers away, leaving a round 

 scar on the rootstock whose outlines suggested to the 

 fanciful man who named the genus the seal of Israel's 

 king. One may know the age of a root by its scars, 

 as the age of a tree by its rings. The fruit at first is 



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