Minnesota Plant Life. 



Fk;. 131. Clanunv-wted. After Hritton and Brown. 



276 



to the ground. Tlie pet- 

 als, eight to twelve in 

 number, inclose the nu- 

 merous stamens. At the 

 center the rudimentary- 

 fruit appears as an ob- 

 long, narrow, one-cham- 

 bered pod, made up of 

 two carpels and ripening 

 into a capsule with nu- 

 merous seeds. The later 

 leaves of the year grow 

 much larger than those 

 formed at the time of 

 flowering and by their ac- 

 ti\-ity create considerable 

 reser\-e food material 

 which is packed away in 

 the underground part reatly for use by the Ijuds of the next 

 season. 



Dutchman's-breeches. The Dutchman's-breeches or squirrel- 

 corn, of which two species occur 

 in Minnesota, are delicate and in- 

 teresting plants of the woodland, 

 where they grow on shaded 

 banks. The leaxcs arc com- 

 pounded repeatetlly (Mi the plan 

 of three and the slender flowering 

 stem bears several nodding flow- 

 ers flattened laterall\' in a peculiar 

 manner. The sha])c of the flower 

 gives occasion for the common 

 name. Below the ground, in the 

 Dutchman'.s-breeches, a number 

 of bulbous scales nia\' be discov- 

 ered. When fresh they are speck- 

 led with red dots. In the squir- 

 rel-corn, the flowers of which are 

 v.i-2. Hiood-rooi. .^fur lirittmi and not SO bifiu'cated as those of the 



Urown. 



