34 WILD FLOWER FAMILIES 



quently tind it by the low margins of streams or 

 on the banks of ponds, as well as on hillsides 

 where springs yield sufficient moisture. In damp, 

 open woods the plant is often abundant. Yet it 

 is by no means always to be found in the situations 

 that seem favorable to its growth. 



The blossoms of the Liver-leaf yield pollen 

 in abundance and apparently they also have a little 

 nectar for the bees and flies that visit them. They 

 are adapted to a wide range of such visitors : in 

 Illinois eleven species of bees and seven species 

 of flies were seen alighting upon the blossoms of 

 the Sharp-lobed Liver-leaf. Cross-pollination is 

 brought about by these insects, but if none of them 

 happen to go to the flower self-pollination takes 

 place. 



Two American species of Hepatica are now 

 recognized by leading botanists : the one in which 

 the lobes of the leaves are rounded is called the 

 Round-lobed Liver-leaf; the one in which the 

 lobes of the leaves are pointed is called the Sharp- 

 lobed Liver-leaf. In both of these species the 

 sepals look like petals, none of the latter being 

 present. One might very easily mistake the three 

 sessile leaves or bracts, which are borne on the 

 stalk below the flowers, for the sepals. 



Marsh Marigold. If you would be reminded 

 of that field of Daffodils immortalized by Words- 

 worth in his famous poem, you should see a spring 



