SPRINGTIME IN THE WOODS 



BY A. BROOKER KLUGH 



(PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR) 



HOW good it is to roam once more through the 

 woods, to feel the soft carpet of leaves beneath 

 our feet, to inhale that indefinable yet wholly 

 delightful "woodsy" odor, and to see on every hand 

 the awakening of nature at the touch of Spring. 



One of the very earliest flowers to appear above the 

 carpet of leaves of a by-gone year is the Bloodroot, so 

 named because of the reddish juice which exudes from 

 the stems and root-stocks when they are injured, and 

 which was at one time used by the aboriginal tribes as 

 war-paint. This red fluid shows through the transparent 



THE BLOODROOT 



An rarly comer in the woods in spring and very beautiful because ot 

 its coloring and delicacy of form. One must enjoy the bloodroot in the 

 place it grows, however, as its flowers are very frail and die quickly 

 when taken. 



stems of the leaves and stalks of the flowers, giving them 

 a clear orange color. 



When this p'.ant first emerges from the ground the leaf 

 is wrapped in a cylinder about the flower-bud, then the 

 bud rises like a little pearl from the centre of its green 

 cradle. The flower opens wide on bright sunny morn- 

 ings ; in the afternoons the petals begin to close inwards ; 

 aii'l at night it closes up. On dull days it does not open 



at all, so that while it is open when bees and other pollen- 

 carrying insects are about, it is closed for the protection 

 of the pollen at other times. 



As the flower comes to maturity the leaf expands, and 

 later in the season it attains a large size, sometimes being 

 six inches across with a stalk ten inches long. 



The Bloodroot is one of the plants which must be ad- 

 mired in its native haunts, for the petals fall so readily 



LARGE WHITE TRILLIUM 



The showy flowers of the white trillium carpet the spring woods with 

 beauty. As the flowers grow old they assume a delicate pink shade 

 which detracts nothing from their beauty and adds to their interest as 

 a subject for study. 



that the flower will not stand transportation from the 

 woods to the house. 



Another attractive denizen of the spring woods is the 

 Dutchman's Breeches, or "Boys and Girls," as it is often 

 called. A quaint but pleasing fancy concerning this plant 

 is thus expressed by an unknown poet : 



"In a gymnasium where things grow, 

 Jolly boys and girls in a row 

 Hanging down from a cross-bar stem 

 Builded purposely for them. 

 Stout little legs up in the air, 

 Kick at the breeze as it passes there ; 

 Dizzy heads in collars wide 

 Look at the world from the underside. 

 Happy acrobats aswing, 

 At the woodside show in early spring." 



This flower is pollinated by bumblebees, which insert 

 their long tongues into the spurs in which the nectar is 

 held. The flower-stalks and leaves spring from a cluster 

 of little tubers, crowded together to form a scaly bulb, 

 and it is in this bulb that the nourishment is stored which 

 allows the plant to make such rapid growth so early in 



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