SWEET CICELY 



Osmorhiza longistylis ( Torr. i DC 



l!;iili(i- ill tlio-c woods, the spring blossoms were every- 

 wlicic ill ;i ciiipt't of s])riii_iir iH'iiutios and anonionos. Now 



May - June 

 Woods 



as tlu" procession of spring niovtHl iiu'xorably onward and 

 April departed and May came on, the earliest tlowers stopped blooming, 

 formed seeds, and (lisapjicarrd. In their place, the woods floor has be- 

 come carpeted with gi-ci'iicry — greenery of the wild ginger and young 

 nettles, the greenery of honewort and white asters, with the llowers of 

 wild geraniinn and the last pale blossoms of the blue phlox, bleached 

 almost whit<- now and temious in the shade. Th(> cardinals are nesting in 

 the tangle of green brier festooned in a wahoo tree: a Carolina wren is 

 nesting under an old stump: there ari' young sipiirrels up in the hollow 

 of the elm: and in ;i luoad-spreading sycamore there is a nest recently 

 vacated by a family of great homed owls. 



Below, in the shadowed greenery of the woods, the white froth of 

 sweet cicely has come into bloom. It is late May and the sweet cicely, 

 marking a certain jioint in a certain cycle, indicates that now indeed it 

 is almost summer. 



Sweet cicely is a member of the Parsley family and has, in com- 

 mon with so many members of that family, a ]»leasant. aromatic quality 

 which gives it distinction. The soft, dark green, finely downy leaves when 

 crushed have an odor of licorice or anise; .>^o do the stems, and the roots 

 are even more aromatic. 



In late summer the .^^eeds are ripe. These are among the brotherhood 

 of stick-tights — long, dark, slightly curved fruits with recurved prickles 

 which catch on anything which passes by. and in this way the seeds are 

 transported to other ])laces. 



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