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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the season. The leaves of this species exhibit a delicacy 

 of cutting which is surpassed by very few of our plants, 

 a delicacy more characteristic of the ferns than of most 

 flowering-plants. 



Soon after the earliest blossoms have lifted their 

 heads to the sunshine the stately queen of the vernal 

 woods the Large White Trillium unfurls her banners 

 of snowy while. In many woods this species occurs in 

 such numbers as to give the forest floor the appearance of 

 a white-starred carpet. 



If we look very carefully at a good many flowers of 

 this species we are likely to find a white spider, with the 

 front two pairs of legs much elongated, sitting close to 

 the centre of the flower. This is the White Crab Spider, 

 a species which thus maintains an attitude of watchful 

 waiting with its long legs spread like a pair of forceps 

 over the middle of the blossom ready to seize such in- 

 sects as may visit it in search of nectar or pollen. 



When the flowers of the Large White Trillium become 

 old they turn pink, which sometimes leads people to be- 

 lieve that they have found a new species. Occasionally 

 the petals have a green stripe down the centre, and still 

 more rarely the petals are entirely green. I once found 

 a remarkable specimen of this species in which the petals 

 were green, the stamens transformed into little green 

 leaves, and inside the ovary in place of ovules were tiny 

 folded-up leaves. 



Another plant of much interest found in our spring 

 woods is the Jack-in-the-Pulpit, or Indian Turnip, a 

 plant of the Arum Family to which the well-known Calla- 

 Lily also belongs. The sheath ("the pulpit"), which 

 surrounds the central portion is called the spathe, and 

 is really a leaf modified for the protection of the flowers. 

 The central portion ("Jack") is termed the spadix, and 



JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT 



About the most familiar of all spring flowers, the Jack-in-the-Pulpit, 

 also called the Indian Turnip, is as well one of the handsomest. Its 

 distinctive form and coloration combined with its haughty bearing 

 proclaim it a leader in the "society" of the woods. 



DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES OR "BOYS AND GIRLS" 



These gy little flowers are general favorites and they are found luxuriantly growing by the early 

 pring visitor to the woods. The leaves of these flowers are fernlike in form and very beautiful. 



on this the flowers are borne. 

 Sometimes the spadix bears 

 flowers of both sexes, sometimes 

 of one sex only, the percentages 

 of the different kinds being, 

 staminate plants, 54 per cent ; 

 pistillate plants, 36 per cent, and 

 plants with both stamens and 

 pistils, 10 per cent. Pollination 

 in this species is brought about 

 by small insects, mainly flies and 

 beetles, which appear to seek the 

 spathes as suitable places in 

 which to hide. From the spathes 

 containing staminate flowers 

 these insects can easily emerge, 

 as there is plenty of room be- 

 tween the wall of the spathe 

 and the spadix, but egress from 

 the pistillate plants is not so easy 

 on account of the narrowness of 

 the space towards the bottom 

 and many of the insects remain 

 in these spathes until they die. 



