the American Botanist 



VOL. XXIV. 



MAY, 1918 



No. 2. 



u/e mag shut our eyes, but cannot help knowing 

 Tjhat skies are clear and grass is growing; 



TJhe breeze comes whispering in our ear 

 Z/hat dandelions are blossoming near, 

 XJhat maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing. 



—LOWELL. 



THE BLOODROOT 



By Willard N. Clute. 



NEW > 

 SOTAN. 



r 1 'HE bloodroot rarely claims our attention for more than 

 A two weeks in the year and yet it is a plant that is familiar 

 to nearly everybody in the United States east of the Missis- 

 sippi. A large part of its popularity is no doubt due to the 

 season in which it blooms for the scarcity of flowers at the 

 beginning- of the vernal season gives an added attraction to 

 blossoms of any kind. The scalloped gray-green leaves, how- 

 ever, each wrapped around its delicate flower-bud, pushing 

 up through the litter on the forest floor, is a sight of sufficient 

 novelty to cause us to pause in our walks to examine it, and 

 the pure white flowers are really pleasing objects, though 

 their span of existence is so short as to> render them unfitted 

 for bouquets. Not only do the petals fall a day or so after the 

 flower expands, but the two sepals are even more evanescent 

 and drop from the bud as it opens. 



Bloodroot blossoms are especially fond of the sun and 

 refuse to open at all on cool days. The leaves, however, last 



