MISCELLANEOUS 



Are these false prophets ? Is it a lie or a vain boast underneath 

 the skunk-cabbage bud pushing it upward and lifting the dead 

 leaves with it? " 



The purplish shell-like leaf, which curls about the tiny flowers 

 which are thus hidden from view, is a rather grewsome-looking 

 object, suggestive of a great snail when it lifts itself fairly above 

 its muddy bed. When one sees it grouped with brother-cab- 

 bages it is easy to understand why a nearly allied species, which 

 abounds along the Italian Riviera, should be entitled " Cap- 

 pucini" by the neighboring peasants, for the bowed, hooded 

 appearance of these plants might easily suggest the cowled 

 Capuchins. 



It seems unfortunate that our earliest spring flower (for such 

 it undoubtedly is) should possess so unpleasant an odor as to win 

 for itself the unpoetic title of skunk cabbage. There is also 

 some incongruity in the heading of the great floral procession of 

 the year by the minute hidden blossoms of this plant. That they 

 are enabled to survive the raw March winds which are rampant 

 when they first appear is probably due to the protection afforded 

 them by the leathery leaf or spathe. When the true leaves un- 

 fold they mark the wet woods and meadows with bright patches 

 of rich foliage, which with that of the hellebore, flash constantly 

 into sight as we travel through the country in April. 



It is interesting to remember that the skunk cabbage is nearly 

 akin to the spotless calla lily, the purple-mottled spathe of the 

 one answering to the snowy petal-like leaf of the other. Meehan 

 tells us that the name bear-weed was given to the plant by the 

 early Swedish settlers in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. It 

 seems that the bears greatly relished this early green, which 

 Meehan remarks " must have been a hot morsel, as the juice 

 is acrid, and is said to possess some narcotic power, while 

 that of the root, when chewed, causes the eyesight to grow 

 dim." 



J22 



