CROWFOOT FAMILY 



This is the first spring flower that people ordi- 

 narily see. The Skunk-Cabbage is indeed earlier, but 

 it is coarse, ill-smelling, and little known, while the 

 Hepatica is delicate, beautiful, and everywhere rec- 

 ognized. The blossoms appear in warm, sheltered 

 places in March and are abundant in sunny ravines 



and hollows in early 

 April. They precede 

 the new leaves by 

 some weeks, the 

 rusty old ones being 

 obliged to do duty 

 as foliage while the 

 plant is in bloom. 

 The early bloom is 

 due to the fact that 

 the flower-buds are 

 started in the fall 

 and carefully pro- 

 tected, wrapped 

 away from harm at 

 the very centre of 

 the plant. In addi- 

 tion, the dry leaves 

 of autumn sift over and upon the plant and make so 

 fitting a blanket that when the snows come the little 

 creature is housed dry and warm for the winter, ready 

 to answer the call of the sun as soon as the snows melt. 

 The date of its bloom is the date of the melted snow 

 and the first warm drying days and varies as these 

 vary. Stems and bracts and flower-buds are covered 

 with soft, white, silky hairs in order to protect the 

 blossom from too rapid changes of temperature. 



76 



Hepatica. Hepatica acutiloba 



