24 AMONG THE WILD-FLOWERS 



I was at first puzzled to know how the two 

 sexes were kept separate, and always in little 

 communities, till I perceived what I might 

 have read in the botany, that the plant is 

 perennial and spreads by offsets and runners 

 like the strawberry. This would of course 

 keep the two kinds in groups by themselves. 



Another plant which has interesting ways 

 and is beautiful besides is the adder' s-tongue, 

 or yellow erythro7iium, the earliest of the lilies, 

 and one of the most pleasing. The April sun- 

 shine is fairly reflected in its revolute flowers. 

 The lilies have bulbs that sit on or near the 

 top of the ground. The onion is a fair type of 

 the lily in this respect. But here is a lily with 

 the bulb deep in the ground. How it gets 

 there is well worth investigating. The botany 

 says the bulb is deep in the ground but ofi'ers 

 no explanation. Now it is only the bulbs of the 

 older or flowering plants that are deep in the 

 ground. The bulbs of the young plants are 

 near the top of the ground. The young plants 

 have but one leaf, the older or flowering ones 

 have two. If you happen to be in the woods 

 at the right time in early April you may see 

 these leaves compactly rolled together, piercing 

 the matted coating of sear leaves that covers 

 the ground like some sharp-pointed instrument. 

 They do not burst their covering or lift it up, 

 but pierce through it like an awl. 



But how does the old bulb get so deep into 

 the ground ? In digging some of them up one 

 spring in an old meadow bottom, I had to 



