YELLOW 



these lilies, each one guarded by a pair of mottled, erect, senti- 

 nel-like leaves. 



The two English names of this plant are unsatisfactory and 

 inappropriate. If the marking of its leaves resembles the skin of 

 an adder why name it after its tongue ? And there is equally 

 little reason for calling a lily a violet. Mr. Burroughs has sug- 

 gested two pretty and significant names. "Fawn lily," he 

 thinks, would be appropriate, because a fawn is. also mottled, and 

 because the two leaves stand up with the alert, startled look of 

 a fawn's ears. The speckled foliage and perhaps its flower- 

 ing season are indicated in the title " trout-lily," which has a 

 spring-like flavor not without charm. It is said that the early 

 settlers of Pennsylvania named the flower "yellow snowdrop," 

 in memory of their own " harbinger of spring." 



The white adder's tongue, E. albidum, is a species which is 

 usually found somewhat westward. 



CELANDINE. 



Chelidonium majus. Poppy Family. 



Stem. Brittle, with saffron-colored, acrid juice. Leaves. Compound 

 or divided, toothed or cut. Flowers. Yellow, clustered. Calyx. Of two 

 sepals falling early. Corolla. Of four petals. Stamens. Sixteen to 

 twenty-four. Pistil. One, with a two-lobed stigma. Pod. Slender, linear. 



The name of celandine must always suggest the poet who 

 never seemed to weary of writing in its honor : 



Pansies, lilies, kingcups, daisies, 

 Let them live upon their praises ; 

 Long as there's a sun that sets, 

 Primroses will have their glory ; 

 Long as there are violets, 

 They will have a place in story ; 

 There's a flower that shall be mine, 

 Tis the little celandine. 



And when certain yellow flowers which frequent the village road- 

 side are pointed out to us as those of the celandine, we feel a 

 sense of disappointment that the favorite theme of Wordsworth 

 should arouse within us so little enthusiasm. So perhaps we are 

 rather relieved than otherwise to realize that the botanical name 



1(6 



