ACCORDING TO SEASON 



appearance of one who conceals the fruit of his 

 J 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 



jnen s ft n d t 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 



