FETID ADDER'S TONGUE (Scoliopus Bigelovii, Torr.). This 

 stemless plant is one of the earliest blossoms of the year, and 

 may be looked for in February in the damp redwood forests 

 from San Francisco northward. Out of the heart of two shiny 

 green leaves blotched with brown, growing close to the ground, 

 rise several weakish flower stems each terminating in a single 

 flower of curious aspect, and an inch or so broad. The sepals 

 and petals are markedly distinct the three former lanceolate, 

 spreading, whitish, striped with purple, and the 3 slender linear 

 petals upright, like triple antennae. A prominent feature of 

 the blossom is the 3-angled ovary tipped with 3 spreading style 

 branches, each to | inch long. The odd beauty of the little 

 flowers is offset by a disagreeable odor which they exhale. 

 The three-angled seed vessels, suggesting elongated beechnuts in 

 shape but bearing still the triple-lobed stigma, are very decor- 

 ative, the stems then becoming tortuous. The specific name 

 is given in honor of Dr. John M. Bigelow, the botanist who dis- 

 covered the plant, which furnished a new genus to science. 



In the Cascade Mountains of Oregon a kindred species, but 

 smaller in every way, S. Hallii, Wats., is found. 



