FAIRY BELLS 



Disporum trachycarpum 8. Wats. 

 LILY FAMILY 



Here is no plant of the open prairie. The thin, soft tissue 

 of it leaves and of its creamj^-white flowers could not stand 

 exposure to high wind, beating rain, or strong sunshine, hence it 

 is in deep woods, especially on the sheltered sides of ravines, 

 that this graceful and dainty beauty of early Spring is to be 

 found. How well it chooses its home is shown by the fact that 

 this photograph of perfect specimens was taken in the morning, 

 after a late snowstorm, followed by frost, had bedraggled or 

 blighted the hardier plants up in the open. 



As the developing foliage of the trees shuts out more sunlight, 

 the Disporum broadens out with the ample, horizontal leaves 

 characteristic of woodland undergrowth. Still later in the 

 season, each branch now widely divergent, bears one or two 

 bright berries where once hung the delicate bells. These globose, 

 three-lobed fruits are about one-half inch in diameter, and in 

 process of ripening change from green to orange and then to 

 dazzling scarlet. Their skin is minutely roughened, giving it 

 th' richness of velvet. Within is a small quantity of juicy pulp 

 and numerous ivory-white seeds. The berries, although not 

 likely to be used for human food, seen harmless enough. These 

 are ripe before the leaves assume their autumn tints, so, unless 

 arrinl away promptly by the birds, they have first a rich green 

 and later a bright yellow background. 



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