STUDYING PLANTS IN WINTER 



733 



its leaves turn in the fall to most beautiful shades of red, 

 scarlet, and various tints of yellow, all the way from a 

 rich orange to a pale lemon yellow. Certain highly 

 colored spots break out upon these leaves, which still 

 further tend to enhance their beauty. This exquisite 



turning of the 



leaves is common 



to all the different 



kinds of Smilax 



vines, and it is in- 

 variably offset by 



the marked beauty 



of the elegant little 



bunches of berries 



they bear at this 



season (Figs. 1 and 



2). Each berry is 



borne upon a deli- 

 cate little stalk, the 



entire bunch being 



generally a round- 

 ish cluster ; this is 



well shown in Fig- 

 ure 2. They always 



remind me of a 



small edition of 



Concord grapes, as 



they possess the 



same bluish-black 



color, with a de- 



c i d e d " bloom " 



spread over each 



berry. 



In the common 



green brier the 



leaves are ovate or 



roundish, many of 



them being truly 



heart-shaped, 



though the botan- 

 ists have called this 



vine Smilax ro- 



tundifolia, refer- 

 ring to its roundish 



leaves, while the 



carrion flower is 



known as Smilax 



herbacca. Of the 



latter Miss Alice 



Lounsberry, in her 



charming little 



work "A Guide to 



the Wild Flowers," 



says: "In the 



season of its bloom 

 the odour of this plant serves to identify it with one of its 

 common names. As the flowers fall, however, it becomes 

 less obnoxious, and is one of the first to foretell by its 

 rich, changing colouring the approach of the autumn. Its 



BERRIES OF THE CARRION FLOWER 



Fig. 2. — This is another Smilax (see Fig. 1) found in the wet lands and on the banks of rivers and 

 small streams. Ranges from New Brunswick and Manitoba to Texas. Exhibits great variability. 

 Easily recognized by the unpleasant odor of its flowers in the spring. This is Smilax herhacea. 



near relative, Smilax roluiidifolia, is not so partial to moist 

 soil, and is well known along the roadsides and fields." 



The stem of this vine is smooth, and has not the 

 " prickles " of the common green brier. Both are erect 

 and climbing. I am thus particular with the two chosen 



species of these 

 two groups, for I 

 desire to record 

 enough here to 

 help one to be 

 absolutely sure of 

 the difference when 

 they are met with 

 in nature. This 

 great principle 

 holds in our studies 

 in every depart- 

 ment of natural 

 science, and it was 

 continually brought 

 before the classes 

 in botany at Cor- 

 n e 1 1 University, 

 where not only I 

 but hundreds of 

 other students had 

 this principle in- 

 stilled into our 

 minds through the 

 teachings of that 

 great master of the 

 science, Dr. David 

 Starr Jordan, who 

 at that time was a 

 tutor there in that 

 branch of nature 

 work. "Compare, 

 gentlemen, c o m - 

 pare ; for compari- 

 son is the key to a 

 natural classifica- 

 tion," he would 

 say ; and I may add 

 that the classifica- 

 tion of flowers is 

 in no way different 

 from any other 

 kind of classifica- 

 tion, as that of 

 watches, cameras, 

 or pistols. It but 

 brings things into 

 an orderly and nat- 

 ural arrangement, 

 in that the knowl- 

 edge thus acquired may be duly stored away in the mind 

 for future use. 



There is another vine which we meet with everywhere 

 in the woods at this season, and long do its leaves remain 



