SWAMPS, BOGS, AND MARSHES 85 



ered with knobbed, fine bristles, and these later form the down, 

 by which the seed when ripe is carried by the wind. Throughout 

 North America. 



103. Swamp Pink 



Helonias bullata. — Family^ Bunch-flower. Cc'Z?;-, purple. 

 Leai'cs, clustered at the base of the scape, 6 to 15 inches 

 long, broad at apex, tapering at base, thin, flat, evergreen, 

 with bracts above on the scape. Time, April, May. 



Flower perianth of 6 segments. Stamens, 6, and a 3-lobed 

 capsule. Flowers, in a simple, short, terminal, dense and blunt 

 raceme. Scape, i to 2 feet high, from a tuberous rootstock. 



A pretty plant, found from New Jersey southward to Virginia. 



104. Skunk-cabbage 



Symplocarpus foetidus. — Fmnily, Arum. Color, of spathe, 

 green, striped with purple and yellow. Leaves, large, broad, 

 ribbed, heart-shaped, lime, March, April. 



This coarse and singular plant, with its ill odor, is yet of inter- 

 est because it has the reputation of being the earliest bloom of 

 spring. In March you may look for the singular, lumpy flowers 

 which precede the big, coarse leaves. The flowers crowd and 

 cover a thick, fleshy spadix, which becomes green and purplish, 

 long-stalked. The enveloping spathe is large, broad, at first com- 

 pletely covering the spadix; afterwards, as the fruit matures, de- 

 caying and falling off. The fruit itself is a singular, repellent- 

 looking mass, being the spadix enlarged, soft, spongy, with the 

 seeds formed underneath the epidermis. Later these drop to the 

 ground like small bulbs. 



The plant leaves are clustered at the root. They are from i to 

 2 feet long, and nearly as broad. 



Notwithstanding the skunk and garlic combination of odor 

 which this plant possesses, and which often permeates the at- 

 mosphere around, insects, including bees, buzz and hum over the 

 flowers with seeming pleasure. Small insects are often caught 

 and drowned in the accumulation of rain-water within the chan- 

 nels of the leaf-stalks. 



