296 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



In late April and early May, when the leaves of the trees are unfold- 

 ing to the music of the wood-thrush and the red-eyed vireo, a whole train 

 of the pet flowers of the woodland appear. The white starry blossoms of 

 the Bloodroot, the delicate Spring Beauty, the Sessile Trillium, the Wood 

 and Rue-Anemones open almost everywhere, and the White Dog's-tooth 

 Violet appears in the moist ravines. Near streams the Lungwort shows 

 its red buds, changing to brilliant blue as they unclose. 



In such woods the more rare and secluded of the Orchids bloom. 

 In early spring one sees an occassional ovate ridged leaf which has sur- 

 vived the cold of winter. In May a slender flower stalk comes up, and 

 at its summit soon appears a spike of odd-shaped brownish blossoms. 

 This is the Putty-root, or Adam-and-Eve, as it is often called — it is rather 

 rare. At the same time you may find the two waxen leaves and lovely 

 rose-tinted flowers of the showy Orchis, and in July, if the woodland 

 drops down to a swamp, you may be able to secure a spike of the elegant 

 Purple-fringed Orchis. Let me wander away for a moment. I have seen 

 the little Ladies' Tresses, Spiranthes gracilis, its flowers looking like a 

 spiral twist of pearls around the slender stalk, growing among hazel 

 bushes very plentifully one season, and then disappear from that locality, 

 so tender and retiring are these shy children of nature. 



In the wood may sometimes be found that waxen-white plant, the 

 Indian Pipe, about our only species of the Heath family. Here, too, I 

 find that rare plant of the Buckthorn family, Rhafnuus lanceolatus, a tall 

 shrub growing in swampy spots. It has greenish, inconspicuous blossoms 

 and small but conspicuous red fruit. 



On the limestone bluffs along our rivers are found many of our most 

 interesting plants. One of my favorite walks embraces a bold bluff on 

 the Pecatonica river; up whose steep face climbs the trailing Ground 

 Yew, Taxiis canadensis. This evergreen, which grows abundantly in 

 high northern forests, is found here only in favored spots. Branches, 

 which are well shaded, are as fresh in January as in June. One is always 

 trying to reach these bright shoots at the risk of one's neck. I find the 

 Yew in bloom early in April, and about midsummer the fruit is perfected 

 in the form of lovely little carmine drupes, each having an opening at the 

 summit which shows the single seed. 



Among the protecting little Yews grow a multitude of tender things. 

 Here the Bishop's-Cap hangs its rows of fringy Httle bells; occasionally 

 a big, snowy Trillium lifts its three-pointed crown ; the queer, cup-blos- 

 somed Wild Ginger lays its soft, velvety leaves close to the moist soil ; 

 the plumy fronds of the Bladder-Fern swing in the lightest breeze, and 

 the Maiden-hair, colored to the finest shade of green, hangs out a hundred 

 little banners on one slender, shining flag-staff. The delicate Cliff-Brake, 

 Pteris gracilis, drops its little fronds down over cool beds of green moss, 

 and its near relative, the purple-stemmed Rock-Brake, grows on the very 

 face of the sterile rock, possessing a sturdy life that resists the drought of 

 summer and the freezing of winter ; while traveling onward, step by step, 

 or rather leaf by leaf, in the mosses, is the elegant Walking-leaf Fern. 



