APRIL AND MAY. 27 



white. M. diphylla is a taller plant, bearing a greater 

 number of white flowers. The names for the false 

 and true mitrevvorts. Tiarella and Mitella^ have a 

 perfectly evident origin ; tlie seed pods look like tiny 

 bishops' mitres. I can hardly agree with Gray, who 

 speaks of the Tiarella thus : " Name, diminution of 

 tiara, a turban, not very appropriate." The word 

 tiara for centuries has been applied to a crown, par- 

 ticularly to a bishop's crown, which was cleft from 

 side to side; the Asiatic turban has little to do with 

 the case. The ancient tiara was a round, high cap 

 encompassed by three crowns added by the popes. 

 The King of Persia wore a tiara-shaped crown, 

 adorned with gold and jewels. The word mitre, 

 synonymous with tiara, applies to the pope's triple 

 coronet, the badge of his civic dignity as distin- 

 guished from his ecclesiastical rank which the keys 

 represent. With these facts in view, the Tiarella is 

 certainly well named. My drawing of the Mitella 

 nuda was made from a specimen found in the woods 

 of Vermont in early summer. 



The flower of the white baneberry is 

 White Baneberry. 



fuzzy and white like the foam-flower, 



Actoia alba. •' ' 



but not particularly interesting. It 

 is seen in May.v The berries, which appear in late 

 summer, are far more apt to attract notice ; they are 

 waxy white, with a purple-black spot, and ovate in 



