164 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [9:6— Sept., 1913 



than in their pale and almost colorless blossoms. Certainly few 

 woodland dwellers have more delicately beautiful foliage than. . .'* 

 the dutchman's breeches. 



Soon appear the violets, white, blue, variegated, bird's foot, 

 hand and yellow. The dog's-tooth violet is the only spring 

 flower which resembles the graceful turk's cap lily in shape. 



The pinky toothwort, whose root-stalk resembles a tooth, and 

 the yellow bell wort arrive next. Imaginative Linneaus dis- 

 covered that this flower hangs like a palate from the roof of a 

 mouth and made its generic name accordingly. The rue anemone 

 and isopyrum soon lift their pure white blossoms skyward from 

 their ferny leaves. 



"The Mandrake stoutly raises 

 Its silken umbrellas green. 

 To shelter pearl white flowers. 

 Apples of gold to screen." 



{Mrs. Porter.) 



The creeping and field buttercups push their little golden cups 

 toward the sun and soon after the fringed avens present their 

 feathery fruits to the winds for distribution. The red and white 

 trilliums are now open. The latter nods its flowers as if in shame 

 on account of some wrongs its ancestors might have done. 



The wild geranium is one of the flowers which can only be 

 fertilized by insects. Self-fertilization is impossible because the 

 anthers fall off of the filaments before the stigmas mature. The 

 Greek valerian tolls its fragrance on the breeze in May. 



Blanchan tells us, ''Like the wicked servant who buried the one 

 talent entrusted to his care, the wild ginger hides its solitary 

 flower if not actually under the dry leaves that clothe the ground 

 in the still leafless woodlands, then not far above them." When 

 the plant is bruised the odor is much like that of ginger. 



The small-flowered false Solomon's seal is one of the daintiest 

 blossoms we have. When closely observed the delicate structure 

 becomes much more apparent. The plant appears cliimsy for its 

 blossoms. In the fall the fruit becomes banded with brown or red. 



I have never had much success with the showy orchids. 

 One year they blossomed but soon after they died out. Last year 

 we procured a nimiber of new plants which are now coming up. 

 Anyone who is interested in orchids should add this flower to 

 their garden. Although it is one of the most common, it is one 

 of the most beautiful. The petals and sepals which form a hood 



