THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. lOi 



appear again and a new cycle of existence is begun. Some- 

 times the stems becomes swollen at the joints or nodes and take 

 on a red color which adds to the attractiveness of the plant. 

 When this occurs the flowers also are tinged with red, or 

 rather pink. Another Circaeo found in colder woods is Cir- 

 caea alpina. This is a smaller variety and is less common. 



Barnesville, O. 



A TRUE MARCH FLOWER. 



BY DR. W. W. BAILEY. 



THE first real flower of the year as that term is popularly 

 understood, is, in Southern New England, the whitlow- 

 grass, or Draha verua of science. 



It is a member of the large and very natural family 

 known as cresses, or mustards. The alliance, owing to its 

 well-marked characters was recognized by Theophrastus, 

 Dioscorides and other early botanists,. 



These characters are, in the flower, a calyx of four dis- 

 tinct, erect sepals, a corolla of four spreading petals, with 

 stalks or claws, as a rule alternating with the sapals; and six 

 stamens, of which four are longer than the other two. This 

 goes to show that so apparently trivial a factor as number and 

 length may play an essential part in classification. Still 'more 

 distinctive is the peculiar pistil, consisting of two carpels 

 (pistil-leaves), and hence structurally one-celled, but in fact, be- 

 coming two-celled by a false partition caused by an extension 

 of the thin placentae into a separating membrane. This is 

 what makes the silvei"y shining portion so characteristic of 

 the garden plant called honesty. 



The peculiar ovary may be compared to a parlor, separat- 

 ed by folding doors, into two compartments. As on the walls 

 of said parlor pictures are hung, so in this cell are suspended 

 the ovules or young seeds. In certain Californian plants of the 



