THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 53 



behind to bother the agriculturist. The butter cups are 

 bright-hued beauties that love the cool spring moisture in the 

 swamps and creeks. But the sand lily is a permanent spring 

 resident. You are never dissapointed when you go out to look 

 for it. Very early it may be found only in the nooks on sunny 

 slopes, along the lee of dry arroyos or in the hollows of 

 prairie trails. 



This plant is a distinctly western one and altho it is gener- 

 ally known here as the "sand lily", its botanical name 

 Leiicocrinuui uiontamuu, being interpreted, is white mountain 

 lih'. I would suggest that when the name jugglers run out 

 of reasons for changing a name that has been a household 

 word with botanists for generations, to one which either ad- 

 vertise the name juggler or some unknown collector that they 

 look into those whose botanic and common names conflict. 



The sand lily spells spring to me in great big letters. 

 Early in the morning when the air is yet fresh with frost and 

 the lead-gray skies are more or less threatening a return of 

 winter, I walk out to see if I can find any evidence that 

 spring is coming and as I spy the clumps of green leaves hold- 

 ing their starry treasures it somehow warms my blood which 

 has been stagnant ever since the first snow of the fall buried 

 my single dandelion. The world is not the same to me when 

 there are no flowers to cheer, altho I can watch the playful 

 antics of the prairie dogs near my homestead or the flocks of 

 beautiful desert horned larks as they flit from one seed stalk 

 to another devouring seeds that would otherwise cause me 

 many a weary hour next summer, yet they cause no quickening 

 of the pulse for they are always with us. But when the sand 

 lily sends forth its green leaves and its flowers peep from out 

 of their emerald cups then I start out forthwith to see what 

 this spring reveals of nature's secrets. Can the cold facts of 

 science after all be right? Its beauty is only to attract some 



