86 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



is a splendid specimen of the plant as it forces its delicate 

 tip into the realm of day, to enjoy its interesting life-cycle. 

 On it comes, straight as an arrow, through the dark soil. 

 When lo! after it has attained a height of some five or six 

 inches, the round, rich, silvery-green and dceply-lobed 

 leaf unfurls, gradually opens 

 out, and exposes to view the 

 treasure it has so well pro- 

 tected. This is nothing less 

 than the future flower — a 

 rather thickish, spindle- 

 shaped bud, which reveals, 

 as soon as it is well above 

 the expanding leaf, its ten 

 or dozen snowy petals, 

 spreading quickly out into 

 a gorgeous star, that may 

 be seen against the dark 

 earth at a long distance, 

 forming, with its many 

 neighbors, a superb floral 

 galaxy indeed. 



These dehcate flowers 

 last but a very short time 

 — maybe not more than a 

 day or even less; the first 

 stifT spring breeze sends the 

 white star-points in all direc- 

 tions, as it sweeps over the 

 frail band. Still, recruits 

 continue to come up, and 

 bloodroots may be found 

 in one place or another until 

 May is pretty well along — 

 the atmospheric tempera- 

 ture having not a little to 

 do with it. 



These flowers secrete no 

 honey, so the insects visiting 

 them leave unrewarded for 

 the important service they 

 perform in the matter of 

 fertilization; bees and cer- 

 tain flies are their chief 

 benefactors in this respect. 



Bloodroots close up at 

 night, the closure being 

 accomplished by the petals 

 all rising together, their 

 outer points meeting above the inner structures of the 

 flower, thus protecting them from the chilly air of the 

 nights and evenings of the early spring. This plant is an 

 interesting one to study, if obtained just as its tip 

 appears above ground in the spring, and transplanted 

 to a suitable box filled with rich earth, to be kept on 

 some sunny window-sill at home; in this way all of its 

 peculiarities may be observed at one's leisure. 



SpringisnowweU along in the northern States east of the 

 Mississippi, and many flowers have bloomed and disap- 



THE 



BRILLIANT SCARLET FRUIT OF THE 

 (Slightly reduced) 



Fig. 4. — There are two plants represented here, collected in southern Maryland 

 on the eleventh of September, 1916. These fruit bunches, containing the rip. 

 ened seeds of the plant, were originally dark green, and very shiny: they only 

 became red upon ripening. If this be done on the part of the plant in the hope 

 that seed-eatmg or other ttirds may carry them off, and, finding the berries unfit 

 to swallow, drop them far from the parent plant, where they perchance may 

 start a new colony, that hope is possibly realized, though we have no evidence 

 of the fact. Gnats of the genus Mycelophila are the insects principally respon- 

 sible for the fertilization of the Jack-in-the-Pulpit. though probably other forms 

 also are. Mathews says that the plant "is possibly developing a dependence 

 upon insects for fertilization; but often one plant develops both staminate and 

 pistilate flowers." The last word about this member of the Arum family appar- 

 ently has not been said. 



peared as one of the most remarkable plants we have 

 makes its appearance; this is the Jack-in-the-Pulpit, also 

 called Indian Turnip. It occurs in moist woods, and often 

 along the banks of sluggish brooks and streams in deep, 

 dark woods. Occasionally, numbers of them thrive in 



thickets where the ground 

 is moist and soft. Botan- 

 ists have placed it in the 

 Arum family (Aracece), and 

 christened it Ariscpma tri- 

 phyllum, or an arum that is 

 stained as though with 

 blood (Greek) . It has but 

 one close relative in our 

 country, the Green Dragon 

 or Dragon Root, foimd in 

 the same genus — a plant 

 with a history. 



Frequently I have photo- 

 graphed the Jack-in-the- 

 Pulpit, both the fruit (Fig. 

 4) and the flower (Fig. 3), 

 and I have studied this 

 plant under many condi- 

 tions, in nature as well as 

 in boxes kept in my study. 

 In the Middle Atlantic 

 States we may look for them 

 along in April; and if it be 

 very early, we may brush 

 the dead leaves and sticks 

 aside in the localities 

 where they grow, when, 

 sooner or later, a pale 

 green, sharp-pointed little 

 cone will be seen sticking 

 up in the mire or damp 

 earth. If this be not a May 

 Apple {Podophyllum pelt- 

 atum), it is almost certain 

 to be sprouting Jack-in-the- 

 Pulpit. Right here, my 

 advice would be to care- 

 fully take the whole plant 

 up, looking about for three 

 or four other good speci- 

 mens to go with it, and 

 take them home to plant 

 and study as they develop. 

 Some should be reared in the sunlight; others in 

 deep shadow, and still others tmder varying conditions. 

 Notice the root as you plant it; it is called the conn, and it 

 is a turnip-shaped affair, rich in farinaceous matter. So 

 bitter is its juice that, if bitten, it will blister the tongue 

 and lips. School-boys call it the "Memory roots," for 

 you are likely to remember it should some young scamp 

 get you to bite it. Boiling removes this acridity entirely, 

 so the early Indians, after thus cooking it, used it as food, 

 as they used the bright scarlet berries which constitute 



JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT 



