MISCELLANEOUS 



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

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

 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 afford- 

 ed them by the leathery leaf or spathe. When the true leaves 

 unfold 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." 



WILD GINGER. 



Asarum Canadense. Birthwort Family. 



Leaves. One or two on each plant, kidney or heart-shaped, fuzzy, long- 

 stalked. Flower. Dull purplish-brown, solitary, close to the ground on a 

 short flower-stalk from the fork of the leaves. Calyx. Three-cleft, bell- 

 shaped. Corolla. None. Stamens. Twelve. Pistil. One, with a thick 

 style and six thick, radiating stigmas. 



Certain flowers might be grouped under the head of " vege- 

 table cranks." Here would be classed the evening primrose, 

 which only opens at night, the closed gentian, which never opens 



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