56 



arise singly or in clusters from among these bracts, and vary in 

 color from white, through pale shades of blue and pink to deep 

 violet, with stalks also varying in length from 2-5 inches; they 

 are subtended by three small sessile green leaves, forming an 

 involucre to each blossom and enclosing it in the bud, so that 

 both the leaves and blossoms are well protected during the 

 winter by their silken covers. The colored segments of the 

 flower are usually 6 in number and variable in length as are also 

 the stamens. The anthers are white and the achenes are beaked 

 and also covered with silky hairs. 



The Hepatica is widely distributed in the east from Nova 

 Scotia to Florida and west in the central part of Canada to Mani- 

 toba and in the United States to Iowa and Missouri. A closely 

 related species, Hepatica acutiloha overlaps and intergrades with 

 it and both are known from Europe and Asia. They take kindly 

 to cultivation and increase in size and the number and color of 

 their blossoms, but should be mulched only with well-rotted 

 leaf-mold. 



The hepaticas belong to the Crowfoot or Buttercup family, 

 of which about 35 genera and over a thousand species are known 

 mostly from the temperate regions of the world. 



Elizabeth G. Brixton 



