FALSE RUE-ANEMONE 



Isopycum biternatum (Raf. ) T. ^ G. 



April The wooded hillside in April is a flower garden. Its loose rich 



Woods soil i.s composed of decayed leafmold made up of generations 

 of dead leaves and sticks; of disintegrated rocks and sand, of 

 water and chemicals all unified by the action of freezing and thawing, 

 raining and drying, sunshine and light breezes. In this loose soil beneath 

 the oaks and pawpaws and wild cherries, the flowers of early spring push 

 through easily and bloom in a hurry after the first call of growth. ]\Iost 

 of the earliest gTow from roots stored with food, or from bulbs or conns. 

 They are ready to grow when the time is right. 



But the small plants of false rue-anemones are unbelievably hardy. 

 They have a thin, fibrous root not far beneath the surface of the ground, 

 not a large enough root to provide much food for the gTowing plant. The 

 beds of anemones, however, often have green leaves all winter. The small, 

 thin, dark green leaflets on low stems usually stand all winter long wdth- 

 out visible growth, and in April send out new leaves and tiny pearl-like 

 buds and dancing white flowers. 



The anemone beds then are white with l)lo()m — th(\v are among the 

 most lightly balanced of flowers. The slightest breath of a breeze seta 

 them to quivering, their smooth, thin, compound leaves to fluttering. 

 False rue-anemones are ])art of that "snow'' wliich covers the sju-ingtime 

 woods with a blanket of white. 



IV 



