NATIVE WILD FLOWERS 



whole of old Canada. It appears in the middle of May and 

 continues blooming till June, preferring the soil of damp, 

 shady woods and thickets; but it takes very kindly to a 

 shaded border in the garden, w T here it increases in size and 

 becomes an ornamental spring flower. 



" Few of our indigenous plants surpass the Trillium in 

 elegance and beauty, and they are all endowed with valu- 

 able medicinal properties. The root of the -Purple Trillium 

 is generally believed to be the most active. Tannin and 

 Bitter Extract form two of its most remarkable ingred- 

 ients." So says that intelligent writer on the medicinal 

 plants of North America, Dr. Charles Lee. 



The Red Trilliums are rich but sombre in color, the 

 petals are longish-ovate, regular, not waved, and the pollen 

 is of a greyish dusty hue, while that of the white species 

 is bright orange yellow. The leaves are of a dark lurid 

 green, the coloring matter of the petals seeming to pervade 

 the leaves. And here let me observe that the same remark 

 may be made of many other plants. In purple flowers we 

 often perceive the violet hue to be perceptible in the stalk 

 and under part of the leaves, and sometimes in the veins 

 and roots. Red flowers, again, show the same tendency in 

 stalk and veins. Where the flower is white the leaves and 

 veinings, with the stem and branches, are for the most part 

 of a lighter green, more inclining to the yellow or else 

 bluish tinge of green. 



The Blood-root in its early stage of growth shews the 

 orange juice in the stem and leaves, as also does the 

 Canadian Balsam and many others that a little observation 

 will point out. The coloring matter of flowers has always 

 been more or less of a mystery to us; that light is one of 

 the great agents can hardly for a moment be doubted, but 

 something also may depend upon the peculiar quality of the 



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