HARBINGER-OF-SPRING 



HARBINGER-OF-SPRING. PEPPER-AND-SALT 



Erigenia hulhdsa 



Erigenia, Greek, born in the spring. 



A low, smooth, perennial herb, found in open woods and 

 alluvial bottom-lands. Western New York to Minnesota 

 and Kansas, south to Maryland and Tennessee. Com- 

 mon in northern Ohio. March, April. 



Stem. — Simple, from a deep, round tuber, three to six 

 inches high, bearing at its summit a small compound 

 umbel. 



Leaves. — One or two, divided into three segments, 

 which are cut and lobed and cut again. 



Umbels. — Mostly compound, one to four slender rays 

 Vv'hich bear small white flowers with conspicuous dark 

 stamens; involucre usually a single leaf. 



Calyx. — Adheres to the ovary. 



Petals. — Five, flat, entire, white. 



Stamens. — Five, exserted; filaments white; anthers 

 large, deep purple. 



Fruit. — Nearly orbicular, notched at both ends, glabrous. 



This exquisite creature, a plant of the Middle West, 

 is fortunate both in its name and that name's sig- 

 nificance — Erigenia, Born in the Spring — for it is one 

 of the earliest to bloom as well as the smallest and most 

 delicate of our early visitors. The reason it can do so 

 well lies in the fact that deep in the ground is a tuber, 

 and from this the stem forces its way upward to sun 

 and light. 



This little tuber looks not unlike a tiny potato 

 dotted with many eyes, and by the time the flowers 



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