STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 



dwarf species, there being two opposite pointed leafy bracts 

 about the middle of the long slender scape. Not only are 

 the fringed cap-like flowers worthy of minute attention, but 

 the boat-shaped two-valved capsules of the seed vessels 

 form a pretty feature in the plant. At an early stage of 

 ripeness the shining jet black seeds appear; these are 

 scarcely less attractive than the delicate fringed flowers, 

 and have given rise to the local name in some places of 

 " Gem-flower." 

 Nearly allied to the above is the woodland flower, 



FALSE MITREWORT Tiarella cordifolia (L.), 



(PLATE VIII.) 



to which the name " Wood Mignonette " is often given, not 

 on account of its scent for there is no particularly agree- 

 able odor in the flower, and the leaves are somewhat coarse 

 and pungent in quality but for the beauty of the light 

 graceful blossoms, which are white with orange tipped or 

 light tawny brown anthers. The petals are pointed and 

 five in number; stamens ten, long and slender; styles two; 

 seed vessels two-valved; .the base of the pistil is thickened, 

 forming a turban-like pod. 



There are two forms of our pretty " Wood Mignonette " 

 one with closer, more globular, heads of flowers, the other 

 with the flowers looser and more scattered. Both affect the 

 rich black mould and shade of the forest trees. 



The plant might be called evergreen, as the leaves appear 

 green and fresh from beneath the covering of Winter's snow. 

 The large flat sharply-toothed, lobed leaves are shaded in 

 the centre with purple; the veinings also blackish purple, 

 and the surface is beset with very short appressed hairs. 

 The leaf stalks of the young plants are of a reddish pink, 

 and are hairy at their junction with the root. 



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