MARSH-MARIGOLD (American Cowslip) 



Caltha palustris L. 



April Tliat night the swampy avoocIs were loud with the throaty 



Swamps piping of the spring peepers and the calling of the wood- 

 cocks. Everywhere — hy dozens, by hundreds, the tiny brown 

 frogs hidden in the shallows shrilled their urgent song, Spring ! Spring ! 

 Spring ! 



Now as the sun comes into the swampy woods, the light shines upon 

 hundreds of gleaming marsh-marigolds — among them the peepers were 

 loud all night. The sun is reflected now from the polished golden petals, 

 strikes highlights in the curve of each flower cup, sparkles on the tight 

 clusters of massed golden stamens in the center of each flower, illumi- 

 nates the thick, heart-shaped, leathery leaves which stand in tufts with 

 the skunk cabbages in wet places. 



Spring takes form among the blossoming marsh-marigolds, as surely 

 here in the northern half of Illinois as it does in the white trout lilies 

 further south, and in all the bright rosettes of dandelions everywhere. 

 The marigolds are like elegant buttercups; stout of stem, thick of leaf, 

 massive of flower, they are the best of the buttercup line, with a special 

 metallic glint on the petals, a special sheen which catches the sunlight 

 until it actually sparkles there in the April swam]x 



Cowslips, many people call them. The young shoots are used for 

 greens in some parts of the countiy. But as a part of the landscape, the 

 marsh-marigolds need both their sparkling name and their s])arkling 

 flowers, and their glossy leaves beneath which innumerable small brown 

 frogs wait until dusk to resume their concert of the spring. 



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