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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



found growing near each other; so that, in September, 

 we often have an opportunity to compare their different 

 berries right on the ground. When the berries of the true 

 Solomon's Seal are of full size, they are dark green and 

 very round. Usually they are suspended in pairs below 

 the leaves, as we would naturally expect to find them 

 from the position of the flowers. Once in a great while 

 we meet with a plant wherein the first two or three berry- 

 bunches are in threes instead of twos, and I have 

 a beautiful picture of a plant showing this. Many 

 species of birds feed on the fruit of the False Solomon's 

 Seal, and in this way contribute to the wide distribution 

 of this species. There is also a Small Solomon's Seal 



HERE WE HAVE SOLOMON'S SEAL COMPARED WITH THE 

 FALSE SPIKENARD, BOTH PLANTS BEING IN FLOWER 



Fig. 7 Solomon's Seal, of which there are two species, is shown to the 

 left in this picture; the other plant is the Spikenard, being a specimen 

 with a very small head. 



(Polygonatum biflorum), which occurs on wooded hill- 

 sides over the greater part of the eastern United States, 

 and as far westward as Texas and Kansas. Besides 

 being related to the lily of the valley, these plants run 

 into the Wake Robin (Trillium), of which we have many 

 species. They are also related to the Green-briars and 

 Carrion flowers, described in previous issues of Amf.rican 

 Forestry. Clintonia borealis and C. umbellata are also 

 related to it, as are several other plants, such as the 

 bellworts (Uvularia), also described in these pages. In- 



deed, taken as a whole, it is a most interesting group, 

 and well worthy of careful study. Alice Lounsberry 

 says: "There is no doubt but that the round scars, left 

 on the rootstock of the Solomon's Seal by the dead stalks 

 of the preceding year, do resemble the impressions made 

 by seals upon wax ; but wherein these seals resemble those 



THIS IS THE TERMINAL SHOOT OF THE SAME PLANT SHOWN 

 IN FIGURE 8. NOTE THAT THE SEED PODS ARE ERECT 



Fig. 9 In the Atlantic States we have but eight or nine species of these 

 wood sorrels; the abundant species here shown has yellow flowers. In 

 . the common Wood Sorrel they are rose colored or purple. 



used by Solomon, is still a mystery to many." There is 

 probably no truth whatever in it ; hundreds of such 

 fanciful names have been bestowed upon the structural 

 parts of both plants and animals without the slightest 

 foundation in fact, as may be noted by skimming over 

 some good work on human anatomy. 



Another pretty group of September flowers indeed 

 they may be in bloom from May to September are the 

 Wood Sorrels. They make up the Wood Sorrel family 

 (Oxalidaceae), and different species of them occur in 

 various parts of the world. They are related to the 

 Geranium family (Cranesbill) on the one hand, and to 

 the Flax family on the other (Linum). For the central 

 and northeastern parts of the United States and Canada 

 Professor Gray describes some eight species of Wood 

 Sorrel, and a very characteristic one is here shown in 

 Figures 8 and 9. Note, in the first named figure how 



