14 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



bage, Symplocarpus foctidus JSTutt. It is, as it were, 

 a' leafless flower, barely rising out of the ground. At 

 flrst the only semblance of a leaf is the enveloping 

 spathe (like that of a calla lily), which is variously 

 striped and spotted with purple and yellowish green, 

 and has its top incurved or bent over like a bird's 

 beak to protect the enclosed flowers from any wintry 

 blast which may arise. The true flowers are numer- 

 ous, small and inconspicuous, and are borne on a 

 thick, fleshy spadix or central axis within the spathe. 

 The plant, after flowering, sends up a thick cluster 

 of large ovate leaves, eighteen inches or more long, 

 which surround the spathe. These leaves, when 

 bruised, give off an odor resembling somewhat both 

 that of a skunk and a mess of strong onions, or a 

 kind of potpourri of the two, hence the common name 

 of " skunk^ cabbage " by which the plant is known. 

 Rich in pollen, the flowers of this plant furnish the 

 first meal of spring to "many a honey-bee ; for the first 

 warm day of March tempts these busy insects forth 

 in numbers, and they find their way unerringly to 

 the few flowers then in bloom. 



Other plants there are ? more striking and more 

 beautiful than those mentioned, which soon open wide: 

 their petals to the sunshine of spring. Among the 

 more common of them is the hepatica, or liverwort, 

 Hepati'ca triloba Chaix. ; the turkey pea, or "pepper 

 and salt," Erigcenia bulbosa Michx. ; the spring beauty, 

 Claytonia virginica Linn., and the cowslip, or marsh 

 marigold, Caltha palustris Linn., but they are followers, 

 not leaders in the floral army. When they blossom 

 spring is here. But the flowers of the red maple, 



