OUR WILD FLOWERS. 805 
OUR WILD FLOWERS. 
MISS SARA M. MANNING. LAKE CITY. 
In the bright days after the April snows, we begin to notice the 
soft color of the budding willows, while out on sunny hillsides the 
grass is springing green, and the furry buds of Pasque-Flower are 
unfolding their delicate sepals of lavender and purple. These buds 
blossom almost as soon as they have ventured above ground, af- 
terward the stem lengthens and the flowering fruit waves abovea 
tuft of deeply-cleft leaves. At the same time in low ground the queer 
little brown and purple hoods of Swamp Cabbage, which cover a 
crowded mass of small flowers, are peeping out from the wet soil- 
Soon the little hoods fall to the ground and decay, the thick root- 
stock sends upa clump of heart-shaped leaves, broad and viny, sur- 
rounding a cluster of globular fruit. In April, too, comes the shy 
Spring Beauty (Claytonia Virginica) in moist open woods. The root 
isatuber, the simple stem has two narrow opposite leaves anda 
small raceme of deeply-vined rose-colored flowers. Another dainty 
blossom is Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa), which has white 
flowers in a leafy umbel. Inrich woods is Bloodroot, so called from 
its root of orange red. When it comes up, the lobed leaf is rolled 
around the scape, which bearsa single flower. The two flesh-colored 
sepals which enfold the bud fall when it expands, leaving the pure 
white petals a contrast tothe golden stamens. Later a one-celled 
pod is all that is left of these little short-lived children of our shiv- 
ering spring. 
As the month nears its close, the drooping buds of Hepatica are 
forcing their way out from the tangle of their own green and crim- 
son leaves of last year. Like several other species of our spring 
flowers, the leaves delay their appearing, sending the blossoms 
forward to spy out the land. As they come through the ground 
they are clothed all up and down their stems with a covering of 
silky fur, which falls off, and the flowers in tints of pink or blue open 
in the sunshine, soft green leaves appear with rounded or acute 
lobes, according to species, which, when the flowers are gone and 
only bunches of seed remain, grow long-stemmed, dark and glossy 
green,all summer showing where we may find these lovely blossoms 
another springtime. All about the roots of oak trees is Wood Ane- 
mone, its buds bent upon the surrounding involucre of leaves or 
the star-like blossoms looking upward. Rue-Anemone, its clustered 
tubers seeming to flourish on stony ground, waves its blushing 
blossoms and many leaflets about the brown lichened rocks, where 
mats of white Rock Cress cling firmly to their surface and purple 
stems of wiry Cliff Brake fill the crevices. 
May comes with its freshness and promise, bringing flowers of 
many hues. The trees are putting on the tints of springtime—the 
bronze of the maples, the soft crimson of the young oaks, the ever 
varying shades of buff, grey and olive which come before the denser, 
darker foliage of a few weeks later. Beneath the trees Brake, Ostrich 
Fern and Flowering Fern are uncoiling, throwing off their light 
brown or green woolly coverings, preparing to grow tall and 
spreading, thus adding their graceful beauty to every woodland 
