ACCORDING TO SEASON 



appearance of one who conceals the fruit of his 

 dark crime, I hid the drooping, recklessly gath- 

 ered blossoms behind a pile of dead underbrush, 

 comforting myself as best I could with a vague 

 and futile, though scarcely misleading, assurance 

 that I might regain them later. 



The May flower-hunt is not always attended 

 with such interesting if not unusual discoveries 

 as fringed polygalas and painted trilliums. But 

 even though the neighborhood be comparative- 

 ly unfamiliar or unpromising, usually we count 

 Old upon certain flowers. In low, moist places we 



find, as we have found for more years than we 

 can remember, the purple or green-veined cano- 

 pies of Jack-in-the-pulpit. Probably side by side 

 we notice those faithful companions, the true and 

 the false Solomon's seal, the former bearing its 

 greenish, somewhat fragrant flowers in a terminal 

 plume, the latter with small, straw-colored bells 

 hanging from the under side of its curved, leafy 

 stem. Frequently in the same neighborhood and 

 with a strong family likeness grow one or both of 

 its kinsmen, the twisted stalks, one with pink, the 

 other with greenish-white, bell-like flowers. An- 

 other familiar member of this lily family is the 

 little Maianthemum. This plant is without an 

 English name, unless we accept the vague title, 

 applied, I find, indiscriminately to different plants, 



6 4 



