PINK WILD FLOWERS 



literally carpeted with its fretwork of leaves, which are 

 formed into green patches, or beds of every conceiv- 

 able angle where they are crisscrossed by the runways 

 of deer or moose and decaying, mossy trunks of fallen 

 trees. In May and June these lovely, leafy group- 

 ings are starred with the strikingly large and beau- 

 tiful flowers which are white, pink-tinted or veined. 

 The Clover-like leaves fold downward at night, not 

 unlike a clumsy umbrella. This species is native in 

 Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. It was familiar 

 to the old Italian masters, and was introduced into 

 some of the early Christian paintings by Angelico and 

 Botticelli. Oxalic acid is produced from its leaves, 

 and is commonly known as Salt of Lemons, which is 

 extensively used by painstaking housewives and 

 laundresses for removing rust stains from linen. 

 The leaves are borne on slender stems, which, rising 

 from a scaly, creeping rootstock, grow to be from two 

 to six inches in height. The single flower is broadly 

 bell-shaped, and has five rounding, notched petals, 

 with five long and five short stamens. This plant 

 also bears the curious, bud-like flowers that fertilize 

 themselves without opening, and which are called 

 cleistogamic, and are borne near the root on short, 

 curved stems. The name Alleluia came to be a 

 favoured one in England, because the flowering 

 season occurred during Easter week. Some believe 

 this to be the true Shamrock of the ancient 

 Irish, dating back to the time of St. Patrick. The 

 White Wood Sorrel ranges from Nova Scotia to 



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