84 



AMERICAN FORJ'.SlR\' 



have writers on flowers among us who actually believe 

 that the roots of this delicate little plant rend the rocks 

 asunder. Even the close observing Germans call it a 

 "stone-breaker" {Steinbrech) ; while Alice Lounsberry 

 says, in her "Guide to the Wild Flowers," that "we find 



dead leaves, semi-frozen ferns, and frost-nipped vegeta- 

 tion of the year before, with not a single sign of a rock 

 in the neighborhood. 



Neltje Blanchan believed no such tale, for she says of 

 the Early Saxifrage : " Rooted in clefts of rock that, there- 



WHERE SAXIFRAGE THRIVES 



(Slightly reduced) 



Fig. 1. — Early Saxifrage {Saxijragti virginiensis), one of the first flowering plants 

 of the spring, sometimes appearing as early as the first week in March; they grow 

 to be from four to ten inches in height. The dark-green leaves are arranged in a 

 rosette near the ground. Their foot-stems are short and broad, while the leaves 

 themselves are oval in outline, rounded distally, with scalloped edges; they are 

 smooth and somewhat thickish. Petals white, five in number, the flo%ver being 

 small, with ten bright yellow stamens. Stem stout and downy; rises from the 

 middle of the leaf rosette. As the main stem lengthens, the separate flower-stems 

 branch and elongate, until the growth as a whole has a much looser appearance 

 and actually is more spreading on this account. The flowers may remain in 

 bloom for two or three weeks, during which time different species of bees and 

 two or three species of butterflies perform the required cross fertilization. 



it on the top, or in the clefts, of rocks, wiiich it has been 

 known to break asunder. In fact, to watch this little 

 plant is a moral lesson in the achievements that can be 

 brought about by quiet, will power." Of course, this is 

 but a fabulous tale, and our pretty little plant plays no 

 such part in nature. Indeed, 1 have far oftener met with 

 it growing in just such situations as I photographed it 

 in on the sides of a deep ditch, coming up among the 



FLOWERING BLOODROOTS (SANGUINARIA CA.VADENSIS) 



(Slightly reduced) 



Fig. 2. — A white-petalled, yellow-centered flower of general range in eastern 

 United States. It is entirely without odor, and grows, as seen in the illustration, 

 on a naked scape of no great height. Pistil single; stamens numerous. This 

 curious plant has but a single leaf that springs from the fleshy root -stock close 

 to the base, the latter containing the same kind of red juice that is found in the 

 stem. There is a short style and a two-grooved stigma, while the ellipsoidal pod 

 is one-celled and tvvo-valved. The seeds are conspicuously crested. In Europe 

 and in northern Asia this low, perennial plant is called the "tormentil," and 

 its juice, which is rich in tannin, is medicinally used as an astringent. House- 

 wives in this country often keep a small bottle of it on hand to drop on sugar, 

 and children are given this when suffering from colds. In general medicine its 

 alkaloid, sanfiiiinarin, is sometimes employed as an expectorant, an emetic, 

 or even as a stimulant. 



fore, appears to be broken by this vigorous plant, the saxi- 

 frage shows rosettes of fresh green leaves in earHest spring 

 and soon whitens with its blossoms the most forbidding 

 niches." This is distinctly contradicted by Ellen Miller 

 and Margaret Christine Whiting, in their "Wild Flowers 

 of North-Eastem States." when they say: "The roots 

 of this hardy plant, pushing in among the crevices of the 

 rocks, fracture them by their vigorous growth." And so 



